Build The Rick
by Psyga315
Summary: Rick received a distress signal from a supposed old friend of his from another universe. At the behest of Morty, he complies and goes to his aid only to find that he had been murdered. Soon afterwards, Morty got kidnapped by Faust and operated on, enabling him to utilize the Build Driver and the Full Bottles to become Kamen Rider Build. A year passes as Morty comes across Ryuga...
1. Prologue

Morty was accustomed to the garage at this point in his life. Especially with Rick working on one of his inventions over the workbench. He had it down to a timer in his head. _In five minutes,_ Morty thought, _he's going to show off a new invention and it will cause some sort of wacky adventure for us to go on_. This had happened at least a few times in the young boy's life, moments that scarred deep in his memory.

What he didn't expect was a phone to go off.

"Uuugh, really?" Rick took out a device that was like a smart phone, with the only exception being that it was entirely made of a thin layer of glass. He pressed a red "REJECT CALL" button and set it down on the bench.

" _Eeeeeey, it's Rick! Sorry I can't come to the phone, but you're interrupting something busy! Please leave a message after the WUBBA LUBBA DUB DUUUUUB!"_ **Beeep**. Morty walked towards the bench and looked as a holographic video came up. It showed a Japanese man with short black hair. His face suggested that he was about middle-aged.

" _Rick Sanchez! It's me, Katsuragi Takumi! I don't have a lot of time, but if you can hear me, I need your help. I'm quitting Faust. No doubt the others won't take my resignation well. This may be my last message, but if you hear this, you need to help me…_ " He looked away as he heard a door open, then looked back to the camera. " _I have to go._ " With that, the video ended.

"Jeez, Rick, we should help him." Morty frowned.

"No, Morty. He tried to get me to join his stupid little clubhouse," Rick turned to face Morty, hands splayed out and eyes rolled, "oh, wow, you named your posse after the tale about a dude making a deal with the devil, _real_ original." Rick took the time to take a swig from his flask.

"Rick, he called _you_ of all people. I know you don't have a lot of reliable friends, especially after Birdperson's wedding, but this guy had reached out specifically for you," Morty could see that, from the way Rick held his flask, he was about a few swigs from going drunk, "he needs you!" Morty slapped away the flask. Rick blinked, his eyes darted to where the flask fell, then back to Morty. "He might be in a lot of trouble and is holding out for you to save him!" Rick just sighs.

"You know, Morty," he let out a burp, "this isn't the time for you to talk me into this, but you might have a point," Rick took out his portal gun, "plus, I can lord the fact that I saved his smug ass over him and get him to do me a favor," and shot a green portal into a wall, "besides, what's the- buuuurp, what's the worst that can happen?" Rick gave a smile towards Morty that filled him with confidence.

* * *

 **ONE YEAR LATER…**

* * *

" _GODFUCKINGDAMN IT, MORTY!_ " Morty tried to balance his bike with one hand while hearing the screams of his granddad come from his phone on the other. " _I GAVE YOU ONE JOB! ONE FUCKING-BUUUUUURP-JOB!_ " Admittedly, it was hard to hear him over the sound of exploding rockets smashing against the ground all while trying to keep his bike from getting blown up as well.

" **I can't talk right now!** " Morty screamed back, his voice reverberating inside his red and blue helmet.

" _Of fucking course you can't!_ _You have Touto's police on your ass! I said to_ nab _the murderer, not save him!_ " Rick shouted. Morty had a passenger who sat behind him. As soon as he heard that, he snatched the phone and yelled into it.

"I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!" He said.

" _You fucking son of a bitch! You're gonna ruin Morty's life! He's going to jail because of you, asshole!_ " Rick shouted.

" **WE'RE TRYING TO GET AWAY!** " Morty yelled back.

" _They're gonna catch you, Morty, and if you're lucky, you'll land in prison where you're gonna drop the soooooaaaaauuuurp! You want that, Morty!? You wanna- You wanna get shanked? Because this is how you get shanked! This is like that time we rescued that fart cloud!"_ Morty sighed and grabbed the phone from the supposed murderer.

" **It's not gonna be like last time!** " Morty then hung up and turned to the man. " **You better not be some evil monster wanting to destroy the galaxy or I** _ **swear**_ **to** _ **God**_ **, I will kill you!** " This caused the man to just stare with wide eyes as Morty accidently drove up onto the ridge of a large steel wall, then fell off as the bike skidded onto the side of the wall. All while the man in the back screamed.

And throughout this entire chase, Morty did not have the time to bring up that the man's fly was open.

* * *

 **BUILD THE RICK**


	2. Encase The Boy

"Morty…" Rick glared at his grandson. He sighed and placed his palm onto his face. The two stood in what appeared to be a laboratory mixed with a lounge. The murderer that Morty rescued, Ryuga Banjo, was looking around the lab as the two were talking. "Uuuuugh. Take over for me." Rick just walked away as a man with circular glasses and a straw hat came up to Morty. To him, he was kinda like his father Jerry, if he was less of a wimp and more of a goof.

"Do you realize what you've done?!" He asked.

"I know, Mr. Isurugi, but we might have something big here! He said that he isn't a murderer and that he was framed!" As Morty said that, Rick stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and saw Morty stare at him.

"Hang on, let me handle this…" Rick went to Isurugi's side as Morty went to him. The two went up the stairs. The two went out of a secret door in a refrigerator, leading into the upper level, where it is decorated to be akin to a café. "You know, you can be a real douche bag." Rick took a swig.

"Doesn't that guy look familiar, Rick?" Morty glared at him.

"No. Must have been- buuuuurp-a Tuesday." Morty rolled his eyes.

"He was _framed_." The two shared a bit of silence. As Morty saw Rink just blink at him, raised his arms and shouted. "Oh, for Pete's sake! Remember when we first came here!?"

"… Ooooooh!" Rick snapped his fingers.

* * *

 _A green portal opened in a living room. Rick and Morty went out of the portal as Rick looked around._

 _"Okay, I set the portal gun to where Katsuragi gave the message, so where is he?" Rick pondered as he looked around._

 _"Rick!" He came to Morty's side. When he saw what Morty found, he just sighed._

 _"Juuuust great." Rick saw a man laid down on the ground. It was Katsuragi. He crouched down and tried to get a pulse. "Nope. He's dead." With that, Morty's eyes went wide._

 _"OH MY GOD, RICK! WHAT DO WE DO!?" Morty screeched as he ran around the living room. Rick just sighed as he looked at the body of the scientist._

 _"Morty, Morty, Morty..." Rick then grabbed Morty by the shoulder. "We're gonna leave this apartment. Okay?"_

 _"But this man's been murdered! We must find his killer! If the police come here, they'll think we did it!" Morty asked._

 _"Don't worry, M-uuuuuurp-orty... We'll find his killer." Rick walked out to a window, opened it, and took out a small pistol. He aimed and fired a dart at a random man walking on the street. This man just so happened to be Ryuga. He passed out as Rick then took out his portal gun, teleporting his unconscious body to the apartment. He picked up his body and slumped him next to the murdered scientist. He put on a pair of gloves, grabbed the unconscious person's hand and pressed his fingers all over the knife. "There... We found the killer." Rick took a sip from his flask._

 _"What are you doing?!" Morty pulled out his hair._

 _"We're framing him, Morty! I'm gonna call the cops and they'll come. We have ten minutes before he comes to." Rick pulled out a phone and dialed 110._

 _"Are you crazy!? We can't just frame an innocent man!" Morty said._

 _"We can, and we will." Rick waited a moment to get an answer from the police. "Yeah, there's been a murder of aaaaaaaaaaa Dr. Katsu-Katsuragi... You better h-uuuuurp-rry." Rick then hung up. "Alright, let's go Morty." With that, Rick walked out of the apartment._

* * *

"So, now we _have_ to go find Katsuragi's real killer! Because now we got an innocent man involved in this! And we're going to clear his name! Even if it takes us nine more seasons!" A bit of drool flew out of Morty's mouth.

"Okay, Morty! Take it easy!" Rick said.

"It's ready!" As soon as Morty heard a girl's voice from the basement, he rushed down.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Ryuga's voice boomed from the basement as well. Rick sighed and shook his head. Soon, a woman walk into the café. She saw the open fridge door and smirked. Just as she was about to go, Rick took out a laser gun and pointed at her.

"And where do you think you're going?" Rick asked.

"I merely want to explore the Kamen Rider's hideout." She held her hands up.

"What the hell's a Kamen Rider?" He blinked and before long, he groaned. "Damn it, Morty."

* * *

Morty looked at a brown, translucent bottle with liquid inside of it. On it was molded into the shape of a gorilla's head.

"Oooooh! Wow! A Gorilla! Thanks, Misora!" Morty said to a girl in a striped dress wearing brown hair in a pony tail, who smiled back.

"No problem... Going to sleep now..." Her smile faded as she walked off to the other side of the lab where her bed is.

"Alright. Night!" Morty waved to her as he sported a bit of a blush. He looked to the brown liquid bottle in his hand. He then went over to a table where he had a device laid down an an assortment of similar bottles in front of it. The device had a hand crank, a large metallic circle, and two gaps where bottles would be placed in. He grabbed both the device and a light-blue colored bottle, one that had the molding of a perfectly cut diamond. He placed the device on his waist as a yellow belt sprung up from one end of the belt and zipped around his waist to the other end, tightening it.

"They're pretty strong, and with a diamond's resistance…" He then placed both the Gorilla bottle and the light blue bottle.

 **GORILLA! DIAMOND! BEST MATCH!**

"Yeah!" Morty smiled.

"Nicely done!" Mr. Isurugi clapped his hands.

"What the hell is that?" Ryuga ran and went on his knees while investigating Morty's belt.

"This? It's the… Have we ever given this a name?" Morty asked. Mr. Isurugi shrugged.

"I just call it the Build Driver." He said.

"Yeah! The Build Driver! By matching two bottles together, I can become a superhero!" With a smile on his face, Morty took the two bottles off and went to show Ryuga his collection of bottles. "I only had one other Best Match, Rabbit and Tank… And if I get ten of them, I can place it over there and something cool happens!" He placed both Gorilla and Diamond together in the collection. The only other bottles that were paired closely together were a red and blue bottle. True to theirs, the red bottle had a rabbit mold while the blue had a tank mold.

"And that would be?" Ryuga asked.

"… I don't know. That's all Mr. Isurugi told me." Morty shrugged. Ryuga went over and picked up two of the bottles, an azure bottle with the molding of a skull and two swords below it and a gray bottle with the molding of the front of a six-barrel gun.

"Well, let's see if _I_ can make a Best Match." Ryuga plugged the two he had.

 **KAIZOKU! GATLING!**

… Nothing after that.

"Eh?" Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

"That was actually one of the first guesses Morty made. Making a Best Match is a lot more than just pairing similar Bottles together. For one," Mr. Isurugi picked up two bottles, a marigold bottle and a turquoise bottle, "one half must be organic, and the other half has to be inorganic. A creature and a machine, for instance," as he said that, Ryuga noticed how the bottles were molded. The marigold bottle had a lion's head while the turquoise bottle had a vacuum cleaner. "The other must be how one would benefit the other. Let's take that Gorilla Diamond match for instance. As Morty said himself, a gorilla's strength would compliment a diamond's toughness. A rabbit's speed would compliment a tank's strength. You get the picture?"

"So, for a Best Match with say… this," Ryuga pulled out the Gatling bottle, "the matching bottle has to be organic and compliments an ability for firearms."

"Yes, exactly." Mr. Isurugi nodded. Soon, Morty noticed someone enter the room.

"Uuuuh, guys?" Morty pointed to the stairwell as Ryuga and Mr. Isurugi turned to see a woman in their basement. She had short brown hair, a white jacket with a burgundy blouse, and a black skirt with floral patterning. "Who left the door- RICK!" Morty screeched out his name as Rick came down.

"Damn it, Morty. I'm not a bouncer. Cover your damn tracks next time." He took a swig from his flask. The woman entered the lab and looked around.

"Amazing! This is where the Kamen Rider hides out! Aaah~! And this might be where he makes his new toys!" She began to jot down on a notepad. Morty ran to her.

"Excuse me, but… who are you? And more importantly, how did you find out about this?" Morty asked.

"Ah, sorry. My name is Takigawa Sawa. And, well," she coyly smiled, "I'm here to thank the Kamen Rider who saved me," she turned to Morty.

"Uuuuuh, doooo I know you?" Morty's teeth chattered.

"No. But I know _you_. Morty Smith, age fifteen, American. No other information outside of working at Nascita," she took out a business card, "which is how I found out about this place, by the way, aaaand other than that, a complete enigma. Well, that and the fact that you're the Kamen Rider that saved me the night before at the pier." That's when Morty realized.

"Oooooh! Where I got the Harinezumi Full Bottle!" Morty snapped his fingers. Sawa just blinked a bit before nodding.

"Ermm… Yes. Whatever _that_ means." Sawa said.

"Well," before Morty could reach for his collection of Full Bottles, Mr. Isurugi just stepped in front of Morty.

"Yeeeaaah, look, I'll explain things to her and work out a deal," Mr. Isurugi grabbed Morty and pulled him aside, "if you noticed," he whispered, "she's writing almost everything we say. If she goes out with this info, we could be in a lot of trouble."

"Oh, I… didn't think about it that way." Morty muttered.

"Well, I hate to leave, but that Gentoku guy's gonna have my ass if I'm late." Rick walked up the stairs.

"Well, while you go and talk with her," Morty turned to Ryuga, " _we_ have to clear your name!" Morty turned to Ryuga.

"Yeah… But first, I need to call someone," he looked around, "anyone got a phone?" Morty handed him his phone. "Thanks!" He took it and dialed a few numbers before he brought it to his ear. "Kasumi? It's me!"

"HELP!" Ryuga's eyes widened as he heard the pained screams of someone.

"KASUMI! Are you there!?" Ryuga shouted into the phone.

" **Banjou Ryuga…** " Ryuga listened to a new voice, a digitally distorted one, " **I'll bring the girl to you…** "

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Ryuga continued to scream before the phone hung up. Ryuga ran off as Morty followed.

"W-wait!" Morty shouted. Before Sawa could follow, Mr. Isurugi got in front of her.

"Excuse me, but, perhaps we can discuss matters on this whole reporting on the Kamen Rider thing?" Mr. Isurugi placed his hands together in a prayer as he made a wry smile.

* * *

"I can understand the reason, Professor Sanchez. Admittedly, my own father gets annoyed with me every now and then." Gentoku Himuro, the head of the Touto Institute of Advanced Matter Physics and son of the Prime Minister of Touto, said. The two walked through a large lab with many other physicists looking through notes.

"Yeah, my grandson is a pain in the ass, but he's still my grandson." Rick said.

"Speaking of pain in the ass, you surely have heard the news on Kamen Rider, right?" Gentoku asked.

"Not really, but I heard a bit of that this morning. The hell's a Kamen Rider?" Rick took a swig.

"A criminal, Professor Sanchez. A dangerous one at that." Gentoku passed by a TV where Rick noticed security camera footage of a red and blue masked man riding a motorcycle with Ryuga clinging on for dear life. "He has harbored a murderer by the name of Banjou Ryuga. You might know him better as the killer of Katsuragi Takumi." The footage continued and showed the rider destroying swarms of robotic men on bikes. "Kamen Rider has labeled himself an enemy of the state with this act of defiance."

"So, what will you do once you capture this Rider guy?" Rick eyed the TV.

"If it was merely safeguarding the murderer, he'd get off with some jail time. However, he has actively fought and destroyed Guardians. They were made for the safety of Touto and he is responsible for diminishing those numbers. Dwindling numbers mean potential enemies will invade the defenseless nation. That right there reeks of treason. In the end, though, my father decides what the punishment for Kamen Rider would be." Gentoku said.

"Eh, he'd probably suggest something like exile or long-term prison sentences." Rick shrugged.

"That said, he's getting older by the day. Eventually, his age will catch up to him and he'll end up being unfit to run Touto. In that case, _I'll_ act in his stead. And believe me, Professor Sanchez," Gentoku went in front of Rick and sneered, "I'm not as forgiving as my father." Rick just looked at him for a moment.

"Sir!" One of the guards ran up to Gentoku.

"WHAT!?" Gentoku shouted at the guard and caused him to stumble back.

"I-it's Kamen Rider! He and Ryuga have been sighted at the pier!"

"WHAT?!" Both Rick and Gentoku said at the same time.

* * *

" **Banjou Ryuga and Kamen Rider have been spotted. Commencing pursuit.** " The robotic voices of the Guardians bellowed as Morty, wearing the red and blue armor, drove his bike away from them.

"Any ideas on how to stop them!?" Ryuga asked.

" **I have** ** _an_** **idea!** " Morty took a white bottle, its molding of a hedgehog, and the Gatling bottle and plugged them in.

 **HARINEZUMI! GATLING!**

Morty turned the crank as large tubes of plastic sprouted out of the Driver and wrapped around Morty. White and gray liquid emerged from the tubes and filled out a model of a white half behind Morty and a gray half in front of Morty.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **BUILD UP!** " Morty stopped cranking as a swanky tune played. The two halves pressed onto Morty. He gained two new things in place of his red and blue form: the white half gave him needle spikes on his shoulders and a spiky gauntlet while the gray half gave him a handgun that rested on his chest. He pulled the handgun out, pointed behind himself and fired the handgun at the Guardians, large needles spewing from the barrel and shooting them down. As he did, Ryuga noticed something.

The two were driving on a bridge, and unfortunately for them…

"The bridge is out!" Ryuga shouted and pointed at a huge under construction banner, behind it being a damaged bridge.

" **Hmmm…** " Morty put his gun away and thought for a moment. Once he was finished, he took out two bottles and plugged them in.

 **KAIZOKU! LIGHT!**

He turned the crank as the pipes appeared again, this time protecting the two from gunfire from the remaining Guardians.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **BUILD UP!** " Another swanky song played as Morty gained a new body. On the left side of his chest was azure, with a pirate ship on his shoulder, while the right side was light yellow with a large light bulb on his shoulder. The light bulb on his shoulder glowed, blinding both Ryuga and the Guardians as he grabbed Ryuga and leaped off the bike into the water.

He splashed down but his left side remained afloat with Ryuga on his back. Ryuga massaged his eyes as Morty swam up the river. Ryuga panted.

" _Warn_ me next time!" Ryuga shouted.

" **Sorry, had to act fast.** " Morty looked up and saw the bike had folded back into his phone. He grabbed it and held onto it. " **So, Kasumi… I'm guessing she's important to you?** " Morty asked. Ryuga nodded.

"Y-yeah. She's… pretty sick. In fact, I was kinda worried she died in the year I was in jail." Ryuga said.

" **I'm… sorry about what happened. With you getting arrested, I mean.** " Morty said.

"Don't be… Think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Ryuga sighed.

" **Yeah, I have the feeling. Grandpa Rick and I get into tons of situations just because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like, there was this one time when we went to…** " Morty stopped himself. Would Ryuga ever believe in space travel? Morty had dug into the history of this place and noticed how it was yet another alternate universe where one major thing changed everything. In this case, it was an expedition to Mars that resulted in an artifact found on it creating a massive wall and splitting Japan into three. He was pretty sure that Ryuga wouldn't believe in travel beyond just the solar system, especially on a planet known simply as the Purge Planet. " **N-nevermind…** " Morty said. As he and Ryuga swam to the docks, he noticed several Guardians marching in a box formation, only to stop and climb onto each other. " **Holy crap!** " Morty shouted as the Guardians began to form into a large chicken walker with Gatling guns for arms.

" **Commencing Union State…** " They said in unison.

"We're done for!" Ryuga said.

" **... No. Not quite.** " Morty said as they reached the docks. He got out of the water and dropped Ryuga safely on the pavement. He took out the Gorilla and Diamond Full Bottles and plugged them in.

 **GORILLA! DIAMOND! BEST MATCH!**

Morty began to crank and create the fluids needed to make the armor.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Super Build Up!** " Morty shouted as the two completed molds of the armor clashed together onto Morty. Unlike the other two Matches he made, this one gave a unique announcement:

 **THE SHINING DESTROYER! GORLIIAMOND! YEAH!**

The armor was a brown and cyan hybrid. His left side had a large gauntlet on his hand while the right had a large diamond on his shoulder. The mecha tried to stomp on Morty, only for Morty to block its foot with the diamond on his shoulder. As he struggled to keep the mecha up, he cranked the Build Driver.

 **READY? GO! VORTEX FINISH! YEEEAAAAH!**

Diamonds spiraled out of the larger diamond, spinning into a cyclone of nothing but diamonds. The diamonds soon engulfed the mecha and solidified into a large diamond. Morty punched up and destroyed the diamond, shattering the mecha into tiny pieces of diamond. As the diamonds landed, Morty took out the bottles and got out of his transformed state.

"Well, that takes care of them…" Morty said. He noticed Ryuga running off. "R-ryuga! Wait up!" Morty ran after him.

"Kasumi might be in trouble!" Ryuga shouted back. As the two ran, a couple of Guardians, the few who did not go into a Union State, noticed them.

" **Banjou Ryuga located. Kamen Rider located. Kamen Rider's identity… unknown… Commencing-** " Before they could even move forward, they were caught in what appeared to be a thick fog. They tried to move but were stuck. The fog wiggled as they noticed that it wasn't fog, but a mist that emanated from spider silk.

" **Appetizer's over. Now for the main course.** " A cold, male voice spoke up as they heard a finger snap. The spider web suddenly began to zap the Guardians and overload their circuits, detonating them in the process.

* * *

"Kasumi!" The two ran across a grassy field. Ahead of them was a large white apartment. "There! That's where she-" Ryuga stopped short when he noticed a large explosion that burst from the side of the building. "KASUMI!" Ryuga cried out.

"Ryuga! Look!" Morty pointed to a monster walking towards them. Its head and shoulders were comprised of three large orange and yellow bulbs with its hands being large lighters. Its overall pattern was a flame decorated in orange.

" **You're late, Banjou Ryuga…** " Ryuga looked around for that distorted voice. " **But, I kept my word. Standing before you is Kasumi.** " Ryuga looked at the firey monster.

"Ka… Kasumi?" Ryuga approached her, only for the monster to point its match lighter hand at Ryuga and shoot out a flame. Morty pushed Ryuga out of the way as the flames caught onto his yellow shirt.

"AAAH!" Morty shrieked and rolled over.

" **And… who are you?** " Morty and Ryuga noticed a thick cloud of vapor materializing before forming into the shape of a person. It then seeped into the holes and crevices of a black armor. On this armor were large engine exhausts built onto the chest which had a yellow bat symbol on it, red and green wires coming from the engine chest and down his arms. His helmet also had the yellow bat as his visor, along with a large horn. Morty's eyes widened. " **Aaaaah, now I remember…** " He knew who this man was, and it seemed he does too. " **You're the shrimp I toyed with one year ago…** " Morty could remember himself inside a small tank as steam poured all over him, all while this black armored man was watching as he sat on a throne.

"YOU!" Morty shouted.

" **You may call me Night Rogue.** " He said.

"… I don't care _what_ you call yourself, y-you Batman knock off!" Morty took out two Full Bottles, Rabbit and Tank, shook them, then placed them in the Driver.

 **RABBIT! TANK! BEST MATCH!**

He cranked the Driver as Night Rogue laughed.

" **Heh, this is interesting.** " He saw the pipes come out of the driver and fill up on the liquids needed to make the armor.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

"LET'S BUILD UP!" Morty shouted as the two halves came together.

 **THE STEEL MOONSAULT! RABBITTANK! YEAH!**

The armor snapped into place as white steam sprayed out from the seems. Both sides lacked any fancy attachments on the hands or shoulders outside of a small spike by his right shoulder with one side being a rabbit's ear and the other being a tank's cannon, and instead were a plain red and blue armor together. Morty ran towards Night Rogue as he merely dodged his punches. After one punch, he dove to the side and kicked Morty in the gut. Morty yelled and tried just one more punch, only for Night Rogue to grab it and twist it behind his back. He screeched in pain as Night Rogue chuckled.

" **I'm not like those guinea pigs you fought, shrimp. I'm a whole lot more dangerous…** " A fog appeared around Morty and Night Rogue as the latter reached out for something. He grabbed a sword that cleared away the fog. He jabbed it into Morty's back.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!** " Morty screamed as sparks flew. Night Rogue tossed Morty away as he rolled over. Ryuga noticed a large gash on the red and blue armor's back. Morty didn't seem to be bleeding though.

" **Let me explain why…** " Night Rogue stood beside the monster. " **You and I are at a Hazard Level of 3,** " he held up three fingers, " **meaning we're evenly matched. The Smash that you have been facing were all at a Hazard Level of 2,** " he lowered his ring finger, " **but Kasumi here is at a Hazard Level of 1…** " He lowered his middle finger and pointed to the monster, who merely growled.

" **A-are you implying that… this… Smash is weaker than the others?** " Morty struggled to get up. " **I-if so… t-then I'll easily defeat her and-** "

" **She'll die the moment you extract the Smash Essence.** " With that, Morty and Ryuga froze.

" **W-what?** " Morty muttered.

"She'll... die?" Ryuga muttered.

" **Hazard Levels 1 and 2 are nearly indistinguishable from each other. When people of those levels are exposed to Nebula Gas, they turn into Smash. However, the key difference is their overall health.** " As Night Rogue said this, Ryuga began to tremble.

"N-no… You don't mean…" Ryuga looked blankly at the monster that was once Kasumi.

" **Kasumi was in suboptimal health compared to the other subjects. She couldn't handle the gasses and died as soon as she inhaled them. What you see now is a husk, unable to truly die… Unless you wish to put her out of my misery.** " Night Rogue chortled. The monster held up its lighter towards Ryuga… only to hesitate and point it at its own head. Flames exploded as it flopped to the ground. It moaned in pain. Morty could only watch as the monster fought between attacking Ryuga and hurting itself. He could hear it cry in agony. Night Rogue just groaned.

" **DESTROY THEM, YOU BITCH!** " He struck the monster with his sword as she screamed. He grabbed the monster by the arm and forced the lighter towards Ryuga. " **FIRE!** " The lighter shot out a huge fireball as Ryuga tackled Morty away from the blast.

"STOP IT! STOP HURTING HER!" Ryuga cried out.

" **She's no longer alive, idiot! She's just a weapon for us now. A very STUPID ONE!** " He punched her in the head. " **NOW WORK RIGHT!** " He jerked her arm and bent it behind her back. There was a large crack as the monster shrieked. A huge fireball began to form on the lighter as he pointed to Ryuga. Before it could fire, though, three bolts flew and struck Night Rogue. As he let go, the monster turned and aimed at Night Rogue. She released the fireball right at him. It exploded and caused Night Rogue to get knocked away a few feet. His armor smoked from the flames.

" **You're truly scum, Rogue…** " Night Rogue looked to his side and saw a man in an armor similar to his. However, his under suit was bright white, with his chest armor resembling a large spider, with four legs reaching below his ribs and four legs peaking over his shoulders. On the center, the spider's body was bright blue. Black and yellow wires ran from the chest and over to his arms much like Night Rogue's armor. His helmet had a blue visor resembling an hourglass turned on its side with what looked to be red eyes underneath. He too shared a horn that jutted out of his forehead.

" **Speeder… How** ** _dare_** **you strike your superior like that?** " Night Rogue growled.

" **We'll discuss my insubordination later after Build cleans up the mess** ** _you_** **made.** " Speeder turned to Morty. " **Build! Finish her off and extract her essence!** " Morty just stood up and gripped his fists.

" **You two… are the** ** _real_** **monsters here!** " Morty took out two bottles and shook them hard before placing them into the Driver.

 **HARINEZUMI! SOUJIKI! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **BUILD UP!** " The two armors came together and snapped in place. While Morty was equipped with the spiky white half again, the second half was turquoise, with his right hand being nothing more than a large vacuum cleaner while his shoulder had the container for where whatever it sucked up goes. Morty ran towards Speeder and threw a spiky punch at him. Speeder pulled out a gun, dodged his attack and fired at Morty. This caused Morty to fall and drop his phone. As it fell, a Full Bottle spilled out of the phone. Speeder picked up the Full Bottle and looked at it. It was the Lion Full Bottle.

" **Ah, we have gained a Full Bottle…** " Night Rogue chuckled. After a brief look, Speeder shook it and tossed it to Morty, who caught it. " **What are you doing!?** " Night Rogue shouted.

" **Build! Swap out Harinezumi for that!** " Speeder said. Morty just glared at the two. " **You want her to suffer more?** " Speeder asked. Morty's hand trembled as he slowly shook his head. " **Then you know what must be done.** " With that, Morty took out Harinezumi and replaced it with Lion.

 **LION! SOUJIKI! BEST MATCH!**

Night Rogue looked to Speeder, as did Morty.

" **Hmph. Lucky guess…** " Night Rogue walked away as smoke erupted from his body. When it cleared, he was gone. Morty took the moment to crank the belt.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Super Build Up…** " Morty muttered as the Belt shouted out.

 **THE MANED CYCLONE! LIONCLEANER! YEAH!**

The golden half of the Lion Full Bottle's armor came to Morty and replaced Harinezumi's half. Instead of a spiky gauntlet, a lion's head was mounted around Morty's wrist. The monster roared in pain as it got up and fired at Morty. Morty took the vacuum cleaner and sucked up the fire, its flames moving into the container. Morty then cranked the driver one last time.

 **ARE YOU READY!? VORTEX FINISH! YEAAAAH!**

Morty released the container as it shot out the flames in a large cyclone. Morty then held up his lion-suited hand as the flames went into the lion. He ran towards the Smash and punched it with the Lion half's fist. The Smash got knocked down as a woman wearing a white gown fell out of it. The woman's body glowed a soft orange as the Smash remained dormant. However, the woman was breathing.

" **Interesting… You managed to separate the Smash portion from the subject…** " Speeder looked as Ryuga ran to her.

"Kasumi!" He cried out. Speeder lowered his head.

" **Unfortunately, this is all you can do for her.** "

"Ryuga…" Kasumi rasped. "I'm… sorry…"

"It's fine… Don't talk…" Tears began to form up in Ryuga's eyes.

"Nabeshima… He asked me to send you to Katsuragi… He said he could have your license reinstated if I did that... I didn't realize I'd destroy your life… If it weren't for me… your life would be..." Ryuga shook his head.

"No… This… My life is great because of you. I'd… I couldn't ask for a better life! You make me the happiest I could ever be… I… I love you!" Kasumi just smiled as her body began to fade away.

"Thank you… Ryuga… I… love you… too…" With that, she became silent as her body disappeared into tiny light particles. Morty could just stare at the Smash. He slowly took out a clear Full Bottle and held it out. The Smash turned into particles and got absorbed into the bottle. Afterwards, he took out the two bottles as the armor disappeared. Speeder could see him going into a thousand-yard stare, though the way his body moved to grab his phone, it seemed it wasn't the first time he had this sort of experience. Meanwhile, Ryuga just sat on the ground and broke into tears. All the while, police sirens began to wail.

"We… we should go." Morty muttered.

"It's fine… It doesn't matter anymore!" Ryuga sobbed. Speeder just slowly approached Ryuga.

" **What is…** " Speeder then grabbed Ryuga by the collar as Morty freaked out. " **What is 'fine' about this!?** " Morty immediately rushed to the two and tried to push Speeder away, only for his arm to feebly press against his armor. " **Is being branded a murderer 'fine' for you!? Is that what she'd want!? Did she die just for you to go down as some criminal?** " Speeder took a moment to look at Ryuga's face, nothing more than that of a crying child. He tossed him to the ground.

"… You… You assholes are the reason she's dead!" Morty shouted at Speeder. He stopped.

" **Rest assured, Build, I would have** ** _never_** **let that happen to her. What happened was Night Rogue's doing. If you wish to avenge Kasumi, then you will do your best to live up to your name. Build up your Hazard Level in the hopes that you surpass us and that you defeat Night Rogue. My name's Freeze Speeder… And I hope our next fight will be better.** " Speeder walked away as he too disappeared into smoke. Morty could only stand there and tremble as he heard the vroom of a car. A gray mini-van pulled up next to them as a door opened.

"Morty, hop in! The cops are- Jesus, you two look like shit!" Rick came out of the driver's seat and patted Morty into the van. "L-like what the hell happened!?" Ryuga got up and slumped over to the van as well. The van drove off, only for the wheels to fold inwards and flew off.

* * *

" **YOU INSUBORDINATE!** " Night Rogue fired upon Freeze Speeder as the two stood in a dimly lit laboratory. Freeze, however, stood still as the bullets hit him. " **You not only hit me, but you managed to give away a Full Bottle to Build!** "

" **At least I didn't kill a sick woman to lure her fiancé into a trap.** " Freeze said.

" **You fail to understand what we do here. We use whoever we can get our hands on as test subjects.** " As Night Rogue got up into Freeze's face, a spider's leg sprouted out of Freeze's arm as he held it up to Rogue's neck like a knife.

" **And** ** _you_** **fail to understand our purpose. We're meant to** ** _train_** **Build, not parade around a dark lair like some villain in a children's show.** " Freeze Speeder said.

" **Did Stalk feed you that crap?** " Night Rogue slapped away the leg and held up his gun. Before he was about to shoot, the two heard footsteps.

" **Did someone say my name?** " The two looked as a man in red spandex approached them. Like them, his armor was similar in design, pipes lining his chest with a large symbol of an animal on his chest and visor. In this case, it was a cobra. Blue and white wires were on his chest and arms as pipes also formed a sort of collar. Freeze immediately broke away from the confrontation and bowed before him.

" **Blood Stalk, I apologize for Night Rogue's behaviour.** " Freeze said. Blood Stalk approached Freeze and patted him on the shoulder.

" **Rise. You two did nothing wrong. Night Rogue was merely experimenting and got some impressive results.** ** _You_** **on the other hand managed to help Build in recognizing a Best Match. Both those things are instrumental in our overall plan. I** ** _do_** **hope you two try working together more often instead of tearing each other apart… It's much more fun that way.** " Freeze got up as Stalk walked past both him and Night Rogue.

" **… Understood, Blood Stalk.** " Freeze crossed one of his arms to his shoulder and nodded.

" **That said… Perhaps we can toy around with Build and his friend. Freeze, be sure to let Nabeshima know his services are needed once again.** " Blood Stalk said.

* * *

Morty sat by the bed back at Nascita's basement as Ryuga approached him.

"I… I wanna say thanks… for helping me with Kasumi." Ryuga said.

"It… wasn't supposed to be this way." Morty muttered. "I was supposed to be a hero who'd save everyone."

"Eeeeeh, don't worry about it." Ryuga suddenly got a slap on the back as he smelled alcohol. He turned to see an old man with spiky blue hair. He barely knew the man, but know that he was the drunkard who yelled at him when he first met Morty. "Morty's a," he burped, "he's just depressed. H-he'll be fine by tomorrow… or next week." Rick said. The three then heard a buzzer and a door popping open. "H-hey, Morty, that bottle's ready." Morty got up and slowly walked to the main lab where Misora exited from a large vault. Morty got the bottle and looked at it. He frowned while giving a drained chuckle.

"Heh, a dragon." He grabbed the Full Bottle and walked over to Ryuga. "Here… you deserve it more than me." Ryuga could see the perpetual frown on Morty's face as he walked away. He looked at the bottle. It was navy and like Morty noted, it had a dragon's head was molded onto the bottle.

"… What's wrong with him?" Misora asked Ryuga.

"He… He's just a little upset is all." Ryuga looked to Morty as he laid down onto the bed and began to cry softly.

"Goodbye… Moonman…" Morty wept. Ryuga looked away and closed his eyes, a few tears dropped from them.

"Wow, w-what pussies." Rick rolled his eyes and took a swig as Misora glared at him.

* * *

It was nighttime. Nabeshima rushed through his apartment. He grabbed what he could and locked them in a briefcase. He panted. Just a few more things and he'll be off, ready to run from…

That's when he noticed a cyborg spider man hanging upside down by a spider thread. He screamed as Freeze Speeder swung in and broke through the window. Nabeshima dropped onto his butt and scooted away from Freeze, only for smoke to bellow from his armor. As it disappeared, so did the armor. In its place was a young man with short black hair. He wore a white scarf with a tan leather jacket and a gray sweater underneath. Nabeshima just trembled before him.

"I'm not here to kill you. If I were, I'd have done it by now." The man approached him and offered his hand. "I'm here because you have a job to do." Despite the nice gesture, he fixed a glare at Nabeshima that only meant one thing:

This man will _not_ take no for an answer.


	3. Shoot The Mirage

[Author's Note: I had originally published this in the morning, but I realized that it wasn't exactly as finished as I wanted it to be. So, I removed it and worked on it a bit more, so now there's a ton more scenes, with this chapter being the take on Episodes 3 & 4 of Build as opposed to just Episode 3. With that, enjoy.]

* * *

"Morty hasn't gotten out of bed yet, has he?" Isurugi looked over to the bed as Morty huddled himself in a fetal position.

"Yeah," Ryuga sat by the open wall leading into the bed, "but we found out who set me up. We just need to find out the information on him."

"Easier said than done," Sawa dropped papers on Nabeshima onto the table, "the information I got of him are outdated. His number, address, and even contact info are all changed."

"Maybe he's trying to hide from something?" Isurugi asked.

"Like who?" Sawa asked back.

"Faust." The three turned to Rick as he shrugged. "What? They're a bunch of assholes who vape and named the group after a story about the devil. If they don't have their name written all over him, then my next bet is the government. Politicians love their dirty cops."

"The hell's Faust?" Ryuga asked.

"I just told you. Haven't you paid attention? Jeez, you really _are_ as dense as a monkey." With that, Ryuga charged forward, only for Isurugi and Sawa to hold him back. "But think about it, isn't it _awfully_ convenient that Nabeshima set you up to get framed and then knocks you out while in prison as you wake up in a testing chamber?" Ryuga stopped. "Yeah, Faust is _those_ clowns." Ryuga's fists tightened.

"Faust… They're the ones who killed Kasumi…" Ryuga scowled.

"Oh, wow, the revenge plot, haven't seen _that_ in a week." Rick walked up to Ryuga. "Though, I _do_ want to get revenge on them too… See, they also experimented on my grandson…"

"When did this happen?" Ryuga asked.

"… It was around the same day Katsuragi Takumi was murdered." Ryuga stumbled back a bit.

* * *

 _"Jeez, Rick! Did we really have to frame a man!?" Morty asked as the two left the apartment._

 _"Y-yeah, Morty. Out of sight, out of mind. Now, let's go home…" Rick took out his portal gun… only for it to get blasted out of his hands. "What the hell!?" Rick looked up and saw the red armored cobra-man known as Blood Stalk._

 _" **Rick Sanchez… I knew Katsuragi would call for you.** " He said._

 _"The fuck!? When did Power Rangers make a comeback?" Rick asked._

 _" **You really don't know anything about Faust, do you?** " Blood Stalk took out a Full Bottle and placed it into a rifle he held._

 ** _FULL BOTTLE! STEAM ATTACK!_**

 _He aimed and fired a large rocket at Rick. Rick activated his shield watch just in time for the blast not to harm him, but the explosion knocked him away. As he struggled to get up, he heard the last thing he'd ever want to hear:_

 _"RICK!" Morty's scream for help._

 _"Morty!" Rick got up to see Blood Stalk stab Morty in the back with a tentacle. Morty fell unconscious as Blood Stalk grabbed Morty and hoisted him over the shoulder._

 _" **Is this your grandson, Rick? If so… I shall borrow him…** " Blood Stalk shot steam out of his gun that completely obscured him as Rick ran to it. As he dove right into the steam, he screamed._

 _"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" However, the steam disappeared, along with Blood Stalk and Morty. "COME OUT, YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Rick shouted to the skies._

* * *

"Let's just say no one who touches my son lives to tell the tale. Except for his dad. I can kill him any day of the week, but I doubt he'd like it. And his mom, but that's because she's my daughter."

"Hey, guys, there's a Smash attack going on." Misora looked on her iPad and walked towards the bed only to find Morty on it. She poked him. "Hey, wake up." Morty groaned and got up.

"Fine…" He walked to the stairs almost sluggishly.

"Hey! Aren't we going after Nabeshima!?" Ryuga broke Isurugi and Sawa's grasps and ran after Morty.

"We are… but this takes priority. I must protect the people. I'm a Kamen Rider, after all." Morty frowned as he walked upstairs.

"I'll go with him. Maybe I can encourage him?" Sawa ran after Morty.

"I-isn't she gonna expose Morty?!" Ryuga shouted.

"Sawa and I made a deal. She won't expose Morty as the Kamen Rider, but she'll record his battles and document them." Isurugi said.

"Why don't you cut a deal with some company and make a TV show about it. I'm sure some Dawson's Creek rejects would love to be in the next Power Rangers." Rick groaned.

* * *

"And we are just joining the Kamen Rider as he's facing off against the newest monster! What kind of new forms will he break out!?" Sawa held up a camera and recorded Morty as he went in a struggle against a bird monster with large wings for arms. He whipped out the Gorilla and Soujiki Full Bottles and put them in the Driver.

 **GORILLA! SOUJIKI! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **BUILD UP!** " Morty declared as the two molds mashed into his body to make his new form.

"What an unexpected combination! Why did he pick those two?" Sawa exclaimed as the bird flew away. Morty put up his Soujiki hand as the wind began to get sucked in, along with the bird. "Of course! It's because he needed to suck the monster into his reach for a devastating…" Morty cranked the Driver.

 **READY? GO! VOLTECH ATTACK!**

Morty's Gorilla hand glowed bright brown. The bird was right into his path as he threw a punch…

" ** _This is all you can do for her…_** " He remembered what happened to Kasumi as he threw the punch… and missed the Smash. It screeched and swung its wing at Morty, to fell down onto the ground.

"Oh no! He's on the ropes! What will he do now?" Sawa asked a little boy who was trembling next to her. Morty got up and took out the Lion and Diamond Bottles, swapping out the ones on his belt.

 **LION! DIAMOND! ARE YOU READY!?**

Morty trembled a bit as he remembered punching Kasumi's Smash out of her.

 **READY!?**

He remembered how she faded away in Ryuga's arms.

 **Ready!?**

He then remembered the first time he became Kamen Rider…

 **ready!?**

And how he almost died at the hands of the first Smash he faced. He looked down and saw the Diamond Full Bottle, formed from that Smash's essence.

 _ready!?_

The various aliens and people he's killed over the past few years adventuring with Rick began to play in his mind. The blood he spilled on the Purge Planet, the irrational behaviour that led to Gordon Lunas taking his own life, and his assassination of Fart were what lingered on in his head. He looked at the Smash in front of him… What if _this_ one was a person whose Hazard Level was a 1 as well? He turned to see Sawa and the boy. Morty bit his lip. If this _was_ a Hazard Level 1 Smash… Then he had to do what needs to be done.

" **Build up…** " He changed again.

"Aaaah! Lion and Diamond! What an intriguing choice!" Sawa held a mike close to her mouth. "He's got the winning formula!" Morty only glanced at Sawa and smiled a bit under the helmet. As the Flying Smash attacked, Morty turned so that his diamond molded shoulder blocked most of the attack. He then punched it with his lion's fist. "What a devastating blow! Such ferocity in that punch!" As the Flying Smash rolled onto the ground, Morty cranked his Driver again.

 **READY? GO! VOLTECH ATTACK!**

Morty ran and shoulder checked the Smash as it got up. As the stream of diamonds erupted from his right shoulder, Morty charged in with an overwhelming left hook, complete with a lion's roar. An aura of a lion's head appeared on his gauntlet before it grew into a large, diamond recreation of a lion and chomped onto the Flying Smash. The Smash exploded in a green fire.

"HE DID IT! Turn here, pose for the camera!" Sawa waved to Morty who just waved back. He took out a clear Full Bottle and went over to the now defeated Smash. He twisted the cap and exposed it to the Smash. Its essence drained right into the bottle as it reverted to its human form: a woman in a sundress. Morty jumped back and looked at her.

" **K-Kasumi!?** " He could see her. Kasumi on the ground. Same outfit and everything…

"Mom!" The boy ran to her as the illusion of Kasumi faded and in its place was the actual person. The mother got up and held the boy tightly.

"Kouta!" She cried out. Morty sighed as he took out his phone and turned it into a motorcycle. He drove off as Sawa ran after him.

"W-wait!" She cried out.

* * *

Ryuga waited around at Nascita's basement for what seemed like minutes. He gripped his hand around the only memento he had of Kasumi: the Dragon Full Bottle.

"'I'm a Kamen Rider…' We're fugitives, damn it!" He punched the wall with his clenched hand, as a spark of blue fire came out of it. "W-what the?" He looked at the Bottle and decided to punch the wall once more. Again, the blue fire spewed out. "Huh…" He shook the bottle a bit. That's when he noticed a strange panel by the area he struck. It was a two by five panel. Before he was able to look closely at it, Morty came down. He turned to greet him. "Ah! There you are! Good! Now we can get to work finding Nabeshima!" Ryuga's smile soon faded when he saw Morty walking sluggishly. Misora ran up to Morty as he handed her the bottle. She took it with her and got into the large chamber. Morty sat down by the table and dropped the Driver off on the table. He sighed and turned to Ryuga.

"Ryuga… I… I don't think I can continue…" Morty sighed. Ryuga stomped to Morty.

"What!? But what about Nabe-"

" _You_ handle Nabeshima!" Morty shouted. There was an air of silence before Morty sighed and turned to the Driver. "I… Well… Could you see if you can use the Driver?" Morty asked. Ryuga raised an eyebrow as Morty handed him the Gatling Full Bottle. He took the Driver and placed it on his waist.

"Heh, sure. Pretty easy feat, right? All I have to do is this…" He took the Gatling Full Bottle and shook it with the Dragon Full Bottle. "And, going with what we discussed yesterday, a Dragon's fire would definitely improve a gun so…" He placed the two in.

 **DRAGON! GATLING!**

Nothing…

"Seriously!?" Ryuga looked at the Driver. He gave out an irritated sigh before he cranked the Driver.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

"Sure, I guess." The two plastic molds merged with Ryuga… Only to emit a powerful current of purple electricity.

"RYUGA!" Morty shouted as Ryuga screamed out in pain, thrashing about before he fell. "Ryuga! Wake up! I didn't know that'd happen!" Isurugi ran down the stairs into the basement.

"What happen-" As he saw Ryuga, Isurugi ran to Morty. "Morty! That belt can't just be used by anyone!"

"I… I…" He shook quite a bit. "You mean… No one else can take my place?" Morty muttered. Isurugi saw tears in his eyes. He sighed and patted Morty on the back.

"Look, what happened was not your fault. You can't blame yourself for what happened." Isurugi said.

"Yeah… It's those bastards that did it… Don't… beat yourself up over it…" Ryuga struggled to get up.

"No, it's not that… I'm… I'm _tired_ of killing!" Morty cried out. Isurugi just smiled as Ryuga staggered back.

"Y-you what!?" Ryuga shouted.

"Yeah! I killed people! Lots of them! And not just men, but women… and children too!" Morty fell down and began to cry.

"Oh jeez, why don't you just quote the entire line, so we can laugh at the cheesy acting!" Rick came downstairs to see Morty weeping.

"What the hell is he talking about?!" Ryuga pulled Rick by the collar.

"Me and Morty go on crazy adventures going across both space and different dimensions, _never_ time because _that's_ a bitch and a half, and sometimes we end up murdering aliens and other people. What's the problem?" As Rick said that, Ryuga scowled and took a moment before he decked him in the face with a Dragon-powered punch. He stumbled a bit as Ryuga let go.

"The fuck, man!?" Ryuga shouted.

 **DING!**

Suddenly, the door leading to the chamber as well as the microwave door opened up.

"Can you guys quiet? I'm going to bed." Misora sleepily said as she walked to her bed. Rick went over and picked up the newly made Full Bottle.

"So… It's a birdy this time." Rick adjusted his jaw. "Also, work on your punching a little. I could barely feel it."

"What!? I'll have you know I used to box! That was my hardest haymaker!" Ryuga shouted.

"Really? Because if I didn't know any better, the only training you did with that hand was to jerk off to your girlfriend while you're being Bubba's bitch." Ryuga could only scream before Isurugi went in between the two.

"Okay! I see we're in a little bit of a bind, but we have a new Full Bottle to play with! Let's just take a breather and fiddle with it!" Isurugi said. Ryuga glared at him before he took the Bottle from Rick.

"Fine. If Dragons can't make guns shoot better, then perhaps a bird flying might give the user a much-needed altitude." Ryuga plugged in the Full Bottle while he kept Gatling.

 **TAKA! GATLING! BEST MATCH!**

"Amazing, you used common sense to figure out what fits where." Rick rolled his eyes.

"Don't ruin the moment…" Isurugi groaned.

"Oh, by the way, talked with Gentoku about that Nabeshima guy. Scored his number." As he took out a slip, Ryuga snatched it from his hands.

"… This doesn't make us friends." Ryuga took out his phone and dialed the number.

" _Who is this!?_ " He heard a gruff voice on the other end.

"Does the name Ryuga Banjo ring a bell?" Ryuga asked.

"Ooooooh, _that'll_ get him shaking in his boots." Rick muttered before Isurugi punched his arm.

"I want you to attest to my innocence!" Ryuga shouted.

" _I can't… My wife and child are being threatened…_ "

"By who? Faust?" Ryuga said.

" _… How did you… It doesn't matter. Look, I'll cut you a deal. Save my family, and I'll see what I can do about clearing your name._ " Nabeshima said.

"Done! Where are they?" Ryuga said.

" _Seito. Sixth district._ " With that, he hung up.

* * *

Nabeshima hung up the phone.

"How was that?" Nabeshima asked Freeze.

"Perfect." That's when fog seeped into the area out of nowhere. The fog soon merged into one being: Night Rogue. "What do _you_ want?" He asked.

" **I'm here to reward Nabeshima for his hard work…** " Night Rogue chortled as Nabeshima's eyes widened.

* * *

"So, how are we getting to Seito?" Ryuga asked Rick.

"Sure, look to _me_ for all your problem solving." Rick said. The group heard someone run down the stairs. Ryuga put up his dukes, only to see that it's Sawa. Sawa panted and looked to Rick.

"I've been running… for thirty minutes!" Sawa shouted.

"Hey, Sawa, do _you_ know any way to get to Seito?" Sawa just looked at Ryuga and smirked.

"In fact, I do… Just… give me a moment to breathe." Sawa said. Morty got up and wiped his tears.

"S-sorry for leaving you like that, Sawa…" Morty muttered.

"That's… Okay… I needed the jog." Sawa chuckled. Morty smiled a bit before he walked away.

"Well, you should get going then, Ryuga…" Morty said.

"You're not coming?" Ryuga asked.

"I… need some time to think." Morty said.

"… Very well. Let's go, Sawa." Ryuga and Sawa walked off as Rick approached Morty.

"Y-you know, Morty, f-for someone who has murdered a dozen aliens or so, you _sure_ are being a pussy after killing one person." Rick shook his head.

"I thought I could save her, Rick." Morty muttered.

"But you didn't. She died. End of story. You had this real nice fantasy of being a hero and all that, but here's the real truth: you can't save everyone." Rick swigged from his flask. Isurugi just groaned.

"Well, my job starts in about an hour. Rick, you're in charge of the café. _Try_ not to blow it up this time." Isurugi walked away as well, leaving only Morty, Rick, and a sleeping Misora…

* * *

Sawa walked Ryuga to the docks at night. Along the way, Ryuga, with the help of Sawa, created a disguise for him: an old man.

"Thank you again for escorting me to the ship, lady…" Ryuga's voice withered.

"You don't have to _act_ as an old man." Sawa chuckled.

"Hey, anything I can do to be convincing!" Ryuga hissed.

" **Ryuga Banjo located!** " He turned to see dozens of Guardians, guns drawn.

"The hell!? How did they locate us so easily?" Ryuga shouted.

"On second thought, perhaps the acting was needed." Sawa chuckled before she ran off. Ryuga stood his ground and took out the Dragon Full Bottle.

"Right, let's take this baby out for a spin!" Ryuga ran towards the Guardians and punched a few, each punch creating a shockwave that knocked them back and permanently damaged their circuits. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Ryuga grinned as he continued to fight the Guardians. However, with each one he destroyed, two more appeared. Eventually, his arm got tired. The Guardians aimed at Ryuga…

 **BLAM BLAM BLAM!**

Only for the Guardians to be blasted to smithereens.

"Huh?" Ryuga turned around to see the familiar blue and red Kamen Rider. "Morty! You came!" The Rider said nothing as he held up a gun that looked more like a drill bit had been shoved right into the holster. He continued to fire at the Guardians as Sawa grabbed Ryuga by the arm.

"Ryuga, we have to go!" Sawa said.

"B-but-"

"Morty will buy us time, let's go!" Sawa dragged Ryuga out of the chaos.

Soon, the Guardians died off and the Kamen Rider stood victorious…

That is until a berserking purple cyclopean monster ran into view, waving around its two swords wildly. The Kamen Rider approached the Mirage Smash as the latter multiplied into dozens. He scoffed and took out the two Full Bottles…

 **TAKA! GATLING! BEST MATCH!**

He cranked the Driver.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **…** " He said nothing as the two halves mashed up.

 **THE SKY VANDAL! HAWKGATLING! YEAH!**

He took the gun he was granted from the Gatling half, as pipes came out of his Driver and oozed out an orange substance that molded itself onto the gun, creating a new orange and gray hand-Gatling gun.

 **HAWK GATLINGER!**

The Taka's orange half sprouted out large wings that flapped, pushing the Kamen Rider up to a huge height. The Mirages all leaped up at the Rider, only for him to crank the Driver and after that, spin the Gatlinger a couple times…

 **TEN! TWENTY! THIRTY! FORTY! FIFTY! SIXTY! SEVENTY! EIGHTY! NINETY! ONE HUNDRED! FULL BULLET!**

 **READY? GO! VOLTECH FINISH! YEAAAAH!**

He flew up high into the air as the Mirages jumped up in pursuit. The Rider pointed his gun at the Mirages as his wings flapped. It created a huge air current that trapped the Mirages into a large wind sphere. The Rider pointed the Gatlinger at the Mirages and fired, dozens of tiny hawk bullets flew towards the sphere and exploded. The sphere was destroyed as the host Mirage fell unconsciously. The Rider flew down and took out the clear Full Bottle. He extracted the essence and returned the Smash to its human form…

Nabeshima.

He trembled before the Rider, who only gave him a cold, empty stare…

Only for the Rider to grab a poisonous tail that was about to strike him. He tugged and pulled his assailant towards him, though the latter merely staggered and looked at the Rider.

" **Heh…** " The Rider stared down the crimson suited cobra-themed Blood Stalk. " **I'm intrigued.** " The Rider just stared at him. " **Your Hazard Level… It's twice the amount needed to use that Driver you have… You can't be the same Build that defeated those Smash. Just who are you?** " Blood Stalk asked.

" **Well, I guess you can say I'm a pretty hazardous person…** " Rick spoke underneath the helmet as he calmly walked towards Stalk.

" **Rick Sanchez… Takumi told me a lot about you.** " Blood Stalk said.

" **Like how I didn't want to join his stupid club? Or how about the fact that if _anyone_ touches my grandson, they'd wish they'd be dead?**" He aimed the Gatlinger at Blood Stalk who only chuckled.

" **Your grandson is something else… Of the two subjects we experimented on that day, he had the higher Hazard Level of 3.5. That is amazing for someone who hasn't been exposed to Nebula Gasses. But I guess that runs in the family. Tell me, if your daughter were here, how high of a Hazard Level would _she_ have?**" Blood Stalk splayed his hands out.

" **I'm already gonna kill you for hurting Morty, don't make me kill you _faster_.**" Rick's finger hovered over the trigger. Blood Stalk laughed.

" **I'm glad you showed up now… If it was Morty in that suit, I'd have to hold myself back. But _you?_ I'm gonna cut loose…**" With that, he aimed his own gun at Rick and the two fired at each other. Their bullets collided in the air as Blood Stalk ran to Rick with a sword. Rick flew up and continued to fire while Blood Stalk just twisted a wheel on his blade.

 **ELEK STEAM!**

Blood Stalk slashed an electrical beam right at Rick. He dodged and spun the Gatling.

 **ONE!**

Rick fired a burst of bullets right at Blood Stalk, who just tanked it.

" **Is this the best you can do, or are _you_ the one holding back?**" Stalk twisted the wheel again.

 **ICE STEAM!**

Another slash, though it hit Rick's wing this time. It froze as Rick fell onto the ground.

" **You disappoint me, Rick. All that power in your hands and I'm _still_ able to beat you…**" Blood Stalk created a cobra hologram that came out of the symbol on his chest. It slithered before it swallowed Nabeshima whole and went away. " **But, a Hazard Level of 6… You're the only person to have reached that point. How you are able to achieve that is something I wish to know…** " Blood Stalk picked Rick up by the neck. " **Tell me… What _are_ you?**"

" **S-suck my dick.** " Rick grunted.

" **Figures… I'll find out eventually. Until then… _Writhe._** " With that, he twisted the wheel one more time.

 **DEVIL STEAM!**

With a sinister chuckle, he stabbed Rick with the Steam Blade as it shot out tons of Nebula Gas and spewed into the wound that Rick made. The armor of Build came off.

" **Congratulations, Rick Sanchez. I've grown bored experimenting the Devil Steam on people with a low Hazard Level. It always results in a Smash being made and all the monotonous side effects that it carries. But _you_ , you're the first person with a high enough Hazard Level that I've decided to grace with this power… Though, while I don't expect the gas to affect you _that_ badly, I _do_ expect it to be _very_ painful.**" Blood Stalk dropped Rick as he screamed out in pain. Stalk walked away as Rick struggled to get up. As he did, he noticed Blood Stalk had disappeared.

* * *

" _Morty…_ " Morty woke up and looked around. " _Morty…_ "

"Huh? Who's saying that?" Morty then turned his head to see… "Kasumi!?" He could see a spectral version of Kasumi floating as she stared at him.

" _You killed me… You separated me from Ryuga… Why?_ " Kasumi asked.

"I- I didn't kill you! Faust did!" Morty shouted.

" _You could have saved me. You could have found a way…_ " Kasumi frowned.

"I… I could have…" Morty huddled.

" _Don't worry. Morty is just an asshole._ " Morty turned to see another ghost. The ghost of the lighthouse keeper from the Purge Planet. " _He thinks I am a horrible writer!_ "

"You are! Your screenplay was shitty and confusing!" Morty gripped his fists.

" _And yet you pushed me down a flight of stairs to my own death instead of resolving things peacefully._ " He said. Soon, tons of cat-like people akin to the lighthouse keeper appeared.

" _Remember us, Morty?_ " They said unison. Morty whimpered as the ghosts piled on… And then…

" _Morty… Why?_ " Morty looked up to see Fart, the cloud of gas that he befriended… " _After all the sacrifices we made, you threw that all away and killed me…_ "

"You were going to wipe out all carbon-based life!" Morty stood up.

" _A noble sacrifice… Wouldn't you say so?_ " Fart said.

"N-no!" Morty began to cry…

"Morty?" He looked up to see Misora. The ghosts had vanished and all he could see was Misora. Misora noticed how much Morty trembled and took him into her arms as he let out all his tears. She turned her head. "Where's Rick?" Misora asked.

"He went out for a walk…" Morty stopped crying… Only to notice, "wait, where _is_ he? I thought he'd be back by now…" Misora let go of Morty and noticed something.

"The Build Driver!" Misora ran over to the table where it used to be, as did Morty.

"It's gone!" Morty looked at it.

"… Morty… I think I know where your grandfather went…" That's when Morty's phone went off. Morty pulled it out and answered.

"Hello?" Morty asked.

" _Hey, Morty. Thanks for bailing us out last night. We were able to get a ride from a woman who was saved by the Kamen Rider._ " Ryuga said.

"Wait, Ryuga, that wasn't-"

" _We're on our way to save Nabeshima's family… We gotta beat Faust to the punch. Sorry to cut this short!_ " **CLICK.** Morty looked at the phone and sighed.

"Well, you're right… Rick took the belt." Morty said.

"Well, if you weren't gonna be Build…" That's when Morty noticed Rick limping down the steps.

"Rick!" Morty and Misora ran to Rick and helped him up. That's when Morty noticed the Build Driver on his waist. "What happened!?"

"That… Uurgh… Cobra asshole. He came back…" Morty sat him down on a chair.

"You gotta rest!" Misora said.

"Fine… Just gonna let you know he took that Nabeshima guy. Turns out he turned into one of those monsters…" Rick said.

"What!?" Morty's eyes widened.

"Yeah… J-just give me a few moments and I'll get back to it." Rick took out his flask and drank from it.

"Rick! You could have been hurt!" Morty shouted.

"Yeah… But at least I can take it…" Rick shuffled his body a bit and got comfortable on the chair. "A-as much as I hate to admit it… It hurts seeing you upset. So I decided, while you and Misora were napping, I'd take the Driver and sneak off. Figured that if _I_ were the one fighting, you wouldn't be scarred."

"… Rick…" Morty muttered.

"I know our adventures had a heavy mark on your mind, especially this one, but I'm going to make this _my_ adventure. It's like you said yourself. Katsuragi needed my help. Not yours. Not sure how involved he was with Faust, but… Cobra-asswipe spoke as though this was _their_ invention. It has his name all over it. Therefore, I'm gonna fight Faust myself, Morty. Once they're dealt with, we can go back home." Rick said.

"… Okay." With that, Morty walked to Misora's room. Rick took out the Full Bottle filled with the Mirage Smash's essence.

"Here, do whatever it is you do with it." Rick said to her.

* * *

The three rested at Nascita's basement for hours before Misora got a text.

"Guys There's another Smash attack. But… the message is weird." Misora ran to Rick as Morty followed. She laid the phone on the table as the two read it.

"A Smash has been located at the park in area C4. He's been experimented on twice, so there might be a chance he could die. I'd give him about three hours. Fight hard! - Blood Stalk." The text said.

"Who's Blood Stalk?" Morty asked.

"Who knows and who cares." Rick walked over to the table and picked up the Build Driver. "Now you kids don't get into any trouble, alright?" He then left. The two went into some silence as Misora sat next to Morty.

"Morty… Do you remember what my father said when he brought you in?" Misora asked Morty.

"Yeah…" Morty looked up at the ceiling. "I was asked to help fight as Kamen Rider… To protect people from the Smash. But now my grandpa is gonna help… So…"

"Your grandfather's a bit of an asshole." Misora said.

"I know… But I trust him." Morty said.

"…" Misora took out a purple Full Bottle and handed it to Morty. "I don't think you should give up your duty. I notice something whenever you come home from a fight with the Smash. A symbol of accomplishment after saving people from them. It's something I want to give to everyone."

"What's that?" Morty asked.

"… A smile." She grinned. Morty just chuckled as Misora laughed with him.

* * *

" **ROOOOAAAR!** " The newly made Square Smash growled as he began to tear up the park with his sword attached to his arm.

 **GORILLA! DIAMOND! BEST MATCH!**

"Hey, Blockhead…" The Smash turned to face Rick as he spun the crank. "… I really have nothing else to add to that so…"

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

"Sure." Rick said as the two halves merged.

 **THE SHINING DESTROYER! GORILLAMOND! YEAH!**

" **Let's get this over with.** " Rick said. The Square Smash roared as it ran to Rick. Rick blocked his sword with his Diamond half before smashing him with the Gorilla arm. The Square Smash got knocked onto a slide attached to a playground. He cut up the playground with his sword and turned them into perfectly sized squares. They flew over to Rick, who just punched each one of them. " **Is that the best you can do?** " Rick asked.

 **DEVIL STEAM!**

A large cloud of Nebula Gas flew towards the battle and hit the Square Smash. The gasses poured out of the Smash as it grew twice its size. It swung down its large sword at Rick who jumped away and swapped out the two Full Bottles.

 **LION! SOUJIKI! BEST MATCH! ARE YOU READY!? THE MANED CYCLONE! LIONCLEANER! YEAH!**

Rick sucked up the debris made from the destroyed squares and punched them with his lion fist, pushing them towards the Smash. However, they felt more like pebbles to him. Rick cranked the Driver.

 **READY? GO! VOLTECH FINISH! YEEEAAAH!**

The Lion's Gauntlet roared as Rick sucked up more and more of the debris, though this time they piled up into a large ball. Rick punched it as the debris turned into the shape of a lion and pounced onto the Smash. However, the Square Smash held onto the Lion before it pushed it right back onto Rick, knocking him out of his transformation. As the Smash tried to slam his sword onto the defeated Rick, it felt something on its back…

A drill pierced right onto him, purple smoke vaping out from the part where the drill meets the handle.

"That's enough!" Morty shouted as he ran to Rick.

"M-morty! The hell!?" Rick asked as Morty ran to his side.

"Rick, I know how much you wanna fight in my stead, but ever since I put on the Build Driver, it's _my_ adventure too. No matter how much it hurts, I'll keep fighting. Because when I fight and help people as Kamen Rider, it makes me happy…" Morty remembered how he defeated the Flying Smash and saved a mother yesterday. "In a way, it makes me feel like a Vindicator." He smiled. He took the Driver and revealed in his hand the purple Full Bottle with what looked like a four-pointed star on the molding. "I'm not fighting for justice or revenge… I'm fighting to save people." Morty looked at the giant Smash. This was the same Smash he fought when he first became Build. The one he nearly died to. He gripped his fists. He trembled, but he stood his ground. "That's why… I'll be Kamen Rider!" Morty slapped on the Driver and placed the purple Full Bottle, followed by the Tank Full Bottle.

 **NINJYA! TANK! ARE YOU READY?!**

"Let's Build Up!" The two halves merged. True to its name, the Ninjya half looked truly like a ninja. He took out a sword and rolled on the Tank's Treads. He slashed at the Smash's legs, causing it to keel over. He rolled back to Rick and took both the Diamond and Soujiki Bottles. He plugged the former in.

 **NINJYA! DIAMOND! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Build Up!** " The two halves merged again as the Smash swung his sword. Morty blocked it with his Diamond arm as the diamonds began to emerge from his shoulder. They turned into tiny energy shurikens and struck at the Smash. He took the Soujiki Bottle next.

 **NINJYA! SOUJIKI! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Build Up!** " Morty used the Soujiki half to suck in the Smash. He slashed at it with the sword and caused it to get knocked back. He took out the Light Bottle and plugged it in.

 **NINJYA! LIGHT! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Build Up!** " Light shined from his shoulder and blinded the Smash. As it shrieked, Morty leaped into the air, vanished, then stabbed the Smash in the back with the sword. There was now one final switch.

 **NINJYA! GATLING! ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Build Up!** " As the Gatling half merged, he fired the gun at the Smash and continually slashed at his knees. " **I've got the winning formula!** " Morty cranked the Driver.

 **READY!? GO! VOLTECH ATTACK!**

Morty fired at the Smash with a powerful blast. He then leaped up and slashed through the hole that he had made a dozen times before he exited the other side. The Smash exploded into green flames and shrunk back to normal size. He landed on his feet.

" **From today on… I'm Kamen Rider Build.** " Morty said. He deactivated the Driver as the armor disappeared.

"You know, you can just shrink it down to Build. I mean, that's what Faust apparently says." Rick rolled his eyes and took out a clear Full Bottle, sucking up the essence from the Smash and revealing Nabeshima. He stirred awake and looked around.

"W-where am I?" Nabeshima asked.

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey." Rick said.

"There you guys are!" Morty turned to see Ryuga and Sawa walking with a woman and her daughter.

"Papa!" The girl ran over to Nabeshima and hugged him… Only for him to shove her away. The woman ran to her and safeguarded her.

"W-who are you people?" Nabeshima asked.

"Uuuuh, Rick?" Morty looked to Rick. He sighed and stood up.

"Don't worry. It's a side effect of that…" He groaned, " _Devil_ Steam. Like seriously, who the hell names it Devil Steam?" Ryuga arrived to Nabeshima's side.

"So what? He forgot?" Ryuga asked.

"I dunno. I don't do research papers on people who try to make gas 'edgy'. But from my guess and what I was told, yes. He forgot. Not sure if it's permanent." He said.

"Oh man… How is he gonna attest to your innocence now?" Morty asked Ryuga. He gripped his fists.

"Papa? Are you okay?" Nabeshima's daughter asked. Ryuga walked to Nabeshima and knelt to him.

"Please… Your daughter has worked hard on her cat's cradle. She's done it for you… She cares about you… I don't care about myself. I made peace with the fact that I have no future. But you… You _have_ a future… So please… Please! Remember them…" Ryuga's voice cracked a bit.

"Papa… Do you remember me?" His daughter's voice also cracked. Morty approached her.

"He will… Just… not now. Don't worry. It will all be okay…" Morty smiled to her. It took a moment before she smiled back.

* * *

Freeze watched the family reunion from afar, hidden by the shrubbery.

" **Stalk, tell me…** " Freeze turned to Blood Stalk as he laid on a bench.

" **Why didn't I kill Rick when I had the chance?** " He asked.

" **No… Why was Nabeshima needed again? You said it was to toy with Build. Then why did you have to involve his family?** " Freeze asked.

" **Don't worry. His family was just an insurance policy to motivate Nabeshima. They wouldn't go under any _real_ harm.**" Stalk said.

" **… That's not what I'm seeing,** " Freeze turned to look at the daughter. " **You're the one who came up with the idea to use Nabeshima. I thought we would use him as bait to spring a trap.** "

" **That was the original idea… But plans change. And we never exposed a person to two Smash Essences at once. Or expose a Smash to Devil Steam.** " Stalk said.

" **And _that_ necessitated destroying his family? I hate to even think this but you're no better than Night Rogue.**" Freeze gripped his fists.

" **Perhaps you don't like our methods of creating Smash. I think it's high time for you to make your _own_ Smash. Next job is all you…**" Stalk got up and patted Freeze on the shoulder. " **Do me proud, Freeze…** "

* * *

Rick, Morty, Ryuga, and Sawa returned to Nascita's basement. Ryuga gripped his fist.

"DAMN IT ALL!" Ryuga punched the wall at the same area where he punched before. This time, it created a dent. "It's one thing if it was just that he can't attest to my innocence, but… him unable to remember his family? THOSE BASTARDS!" He punched again. The dent grew.

"Don't worry, Ryuga. We're gonna take out Faust one day." Morty said.

"I'm not gonna let them get away with this!" He punched one more time. The dent caved in, revealing the panel's entirety.

"What's with all the racket!?" Isurugi ran downstairs and saw the broken wall and the loose panel.

"Ooooh jeez… S-sorry!" Morty held his hands and bowed… Only to look at the panel. He went over to it and grabbed it. "What the…" He pulled it out. "I never seen _this_ before…" Morty looked up to Isurugi. "Wait…" Morty remembered the first day he was taken under Isurugi's wing. How he was asked to be Build. He took out two Full Bottles, Rabbit and Tank, and plugged them onto the top row. The two glowed and created the same **RT** symbol as the Driver when it would make a Best Match. "What the hell…" Morty muttered. "What is this?" Morty turned to Isurugi, who just stared blankly at Morty. Rick knew this look.

It was the look of a man with a thousand secrets.


	4. Press The Spider

"So, let's go from the top. You went to Mars," Rick asked Isurugi. He had spent the past few minutes explaining the story of what exactly the panel was, "got something that you explicitly called Pandora's Box, and then touched the box which caused the Great Wall of Japan?"

"That's the overall gist of it, yes." Isurugi said.

"What _exactly_ was going through your mind?! Y-you never heard of Pandora's Box?! O-or whatever fucked up Japanese version of it that involves tentacles?" Rick asked. Morty gave a dirty look to Rick.

"It happened so suddenly, and to tell you the truth, Mars kinda messed me up." Isurugi said.

"S-so what? Mars is Vietnam now!?" As Rick extended his arms, Ryuga shoved Rick. "FUCK YOU, MONKEY TURD!" Rick crashed into the bar stand of the café.

"When the box opened, two of the panels flew out, right?" Ryuga asked. Isurugi just continued to nod.

"And you grabbed one when you were rescuing Misora from Faust?" Morty asked.

"That's exactly it!" Isurugi said. Rick just folded his arms.

"And this was conveniently around the time you found Morty, right?" Rick got up and asked as Isurugi nodded… then stopped.

"What exactly are you implying?" Isurugi asked.

"I'm just saying that if you were busy busting out your daughter, you might have seen Morty there too." Rick said.

"H-hold on! He could have rescued her a day or so prior to Katsuragi's murder!" As Morty said that, Isurugi nodded.

"I found young Morty in an old alleyway on my way back from my other job, so perhaps they were trying to find someone to replace Misora." Isurugi said.

"And they must have thought of me as a dud and left me to the curb." Morty said. Rick just groaned.

"Really? Because from what Captain Cobra told me, you excelled." As Rick said that, Isurugi bobbed his head left and right.

"Perhaps he was too _good_ for them? From what Ryuga told me about the Hazard Levels, it seems that 2 and 1 would be more preferable." Isurugi said. Rick sighed and nodded before he took out his flask and drank it.

"The only thing in life where low numbers matter is golf, and we're not playing golf. Now, I gotta go entertain the puppet on strings." Rick turned around and walked off… As he opened the door, though, he saw Sawa. "Oh, look, paparazzi." Rick muttered as Sawa walked past Rick. She slammed down papers right where Isurugi was.

"Guys, I need your help." She said.

"Aaaaaaaaand I'm gone." Rick left as he flipped her off.

"What's the problem?" Morty looked at the papers. He was able to understand Japanese quite fluently thanks to Rick modifying his brain shortly before their trip to Katsuragi's. He skimmed the reports of a man named Rei Kumo who was once a part of a farming family in Hokuto before the Sky Wall destroyed much of the farmlands and ruined them financially. As he read the part about Rei's last whereabouts, in which he was offered to be a part of a research group, Morty's eyes darted to Sawa. "It's Faust, isn't it?"

"It might be. Someone asked me to investigate him. He claims that he's an old friend of his, but the fact that Rei gave him the cold shoulder," Isurugi gave a snigger as she said that, "meant that something's off. I dug up information from a good source and that's what I found. The problem is… his name isn't really Rei Kumo. According to my client, it's Taro Satou."

"Definitely Faust…" Ryuga slammed his fist against the wall.

"We'll help you!" Morty said to her.

"Hey, what about clearing my name?!" Ryuga looked to Morty.

"If this _is_ related to Faust, that might be our chance!" Morty looked back. Ryuga just scowled and looked away. "Bring me to him." Morty said to Sawa. She walked out of the café as Morty followed. A moment later, Isurugi's phone buzzed. He looked at it and sighed.

"Well, _my_ job's calling me." Isurugi got up and walked out of the café. As he did, he waved to Ryuga and Misora. "Ciao!"

"Well this sucks! I'm not allowed to go anywhere, and _they_ get to go do cool things." Ryuga pouted.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not technically allowed to go out as well…" There was a pause before Misora walked to the basement. "That reminds me, I gotta work on that FullBottle."

"Mooooou! Damn it all!" Ryuga cried out.

* * *

A group of rogue Guardians tried to attack some construction workers, but a figure stood in their path. Freeze Speeder continued to fire upon the Guardians with his gun as they proceeded to fall and explode. However, he spared at least one of them. He took out a navy and gold box and a purple and silver FullBottle. He shook the bottle and plugged it into the box.

 **WAKE UP!**

A small dragon's head and its tail folded out of the box and came to life.

 **CROSS-Z FLAME!**

The dragon flew to the robot and spewed out a fiery blue web. As it landed on the Guardian, it exploded.

"Thank you! Thank-" One of the construction workers tried to approach Freeze, only to be stopped by another worker.

"Wait, he could be related to the Kamen Rider fugitive!" As he said that, the workers fled.

" **So, this is what you do on your free time?** " Freeze tilted his head and saw Blood Stalk sitting on the roof of a nearby building.

" **I was merely experimenting.** " Freeze grabbed the dragon and pulled out the FullBottle.

" **So, I heard. Night Rogue told me you found a test subject.** " Stalk jumped down and approached Freeze.

" **Yes. And unlike our last two,** _ **this**_ **one is a lowlife. The kind of scum you'd pick up off the street. The kind no one will miss. No family. No loved ones.** _ **That's**_ **the kind of people we should turn into Smashes. Because at least they can be useful for once in their lives.** " Freeze gripped his fists as he turned to Stalk.

" **So… What do you plan to do with this Smash?** " Stalk asked.

" **I left that up to Night Rogue to decide. I merely wanted to show you who we should make into Smashes. It's up to** _ **you**_ **two to figure out the rest.** " Freeze turned and started to walk.

" **And what will** _ **you**_ **do in the meantime?** " Stalk asked.

" **Fulfilling my purpose: To build up Build's Hazard Level.** " Freeze said.

* * *

"I hope you found the information useful, Mr. Sanchez?" Gentoku asked Rick as the two walked through the halls.

"Yeah. Surprised you gave it so willy nilly. Usually with government agents, they'd be the squirmy douchebags that block progress." He turned his head to a man with glasses that was following them. "Like him."

"Hey!" The man stepped up before Gentoku turned around.

"Utsumi." With a subtle growl from Gentoku, Utsumi backed off. "I wouldn't say that around here, though. Most of us are scientists. The only government agent here is, by technicality, me." He said to Rick.

"And _me_ …" The three looked ahead as they saw a woman in an all-black business suit.

"Saiga." Gentoku muttered.

"Your father has requested me to take a look at how the research for the Pandora Box is going." She said.

"As you can see, we're no closer than we were last week." Gentoku said.

"You've been studying this thing for, what, ten years, and _none_ of you guys have a clue what it does?" Rick asked the two.

"It isn't as simple as looking at the cube, Mr. Sanchez. This is a Martian artifact we found." As Gentoku looked to Rick, he held up his hand.

"And what makes you so certain it's a Martian artifact, huh? You found it on Mars? Could just mean it's an _extra_ -Martian artifact." Rick rolled his eyes, though as he tried to get past Gentoku, he merely stepped in front of him.

"And how do _you_ know?" As Gentoku asked that, there was a pause before alarms blared. One of the nameless researchers that Rick had seen ran up to Gentoku.

"Sir! Madam! A monster's advancing towards the lab!" He said. Rick could briefly see a grin from Gentoku before he turned his attention to the matter at hand.

"We'll continue this discussion later, Mr. Sanchez. Right now, we have a threat to deal with." Rick went ahead of Gentoku as he said that.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me handle this." Rick said.

* * *

"Oi! Ryuga!" Ryuga laid his head down on the counter and snoozed before Misora smacked the newest Full Bottle against his head. "It's ready. Give it to Morty. There's been another Smash attack reported and I think he's gonna need it." Ryuga glared at Misora.

"Hey! I'm not some slave!" Ryuga shouted. Misora pouted and handed him the Full Bottle. It was yellow with a series of engravings that made it look as though they were… "Comics? Maaan, what kind of active imagination do you have? It's one thing to have tanks and Gatling guns, but vacuum cleaners and comic books?!"

"I don't make up what the essence becomes. I just…" She frowned before her hand brushed over a golden bracelet. "It just happens when I purify the bottles." Ryuga took a moment before he pocketed the Full Bottle. "… Look, Ryuga, I know what you're feeling. Trapped, feeling like you have nothing you can do… I've been there… But… The difference is that I decided to make something of my situation. I'm helping Morty in every way I can, not because I'm obliged to, but because I _want_ to."

"Well, all _I_ want is to be outta this mess." Ryuga balled his hands into fists. "That and bash in the skulls of those Faust bastards."

"That's why Rick joined." Misora said.

"Don't get me started on that useless prick." Ryuga muttered.

"You may not notice it, but whenever I see him with Morty, I can't help but see his face begin to smile. I smile too whenever I give Morty a Full Bottle. If you're only helping Morty because it will prove your innocence or get you revenge, then you _won't_ enjoy it. I guarantee you that." With a small moment, Ryuga got up and went out.

"Whatever. I'm going to give Morty the Full Bottle regardless." Ryuga walked out of the café as Misora focused on her bracelet.

* * *

"Don't let that Smash anywhere near the lab." Gentoku spoke into a receiver as he, Rick, Utsumi, and Saiga stood on an overpassing bridge. They watched a bulky creature made of slabs of metal attached to it, its arms and hands akin to a printing press, slowly lumber towards the facility as Guardians and guards formed a firing squad.

"What do we do if it gets past the guards?" Utsumi asked Gentoku. Rick rolled his eyes and took out his flask. He took a swig of it, looked inside, and took out a tissue from his pocket to stuff into the flask. He took out a lighter from Gentoku's pocket.

"Then prepare for the worst. I fear this monster will try to find the Box to gain more power…" As Gentoku spoke, Rick lit the tissue and lightly tossed it towards the metallic Smash. "We might need to involve the-"

 **BOOM!**

A large explosion knocked the monster back on top of unnerving everyone involved. Gentoku looked at Rick who nonchalantly handed him back his lighter.

"What? You never used a Molotov before?" Rick took out another flask and drank from it. Gentoku's jaw dropped, eyes glancing at Rick before they look to the Smash.

"… Screw the subtleties, FIRE!" Gentoku had the squad unload their ammunition onto the Smash. Yet, it did nothing to the Smash. Rick blankly looked on. He had figured that only Build can defeat the Smash, though flat out saying it to the man who openly admitted that he'd take him down first chance he got wouldn't be the wisest option. Plus, it seemed like the guards were making short work of the Smash.

 **Vrooom!**

Rick noticed a motorcycle heading towards the guards before it full on stopped. The rider was a familiar red and blue armored hero.

"Oh crap…" Rick muttered.

"Perfect. Men, kill them both." As Gentoku said that, Rick motioned to attack him, though he stopped. He knew better than to get caught in the line of fire. The better idea was to handle the Smash and get Morty out of there. Luckily, he managed to sneak out a Full Bottle on the way out. With a few shakes of the Ninjya Full Bottle, he backed away from Gentoku before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

As Morty inspected the Smash, he noticed smoke billowing behind him. Before he could question it, an arm reached out and pulled him off his bike, into the smoke.

"The fuck are you doing, Morty!?" Morty noticed Rick shaking him as the two were inside the cloud of smoke.

" **I-I'm fighting the Smash! Sawa and I were supposed to find that guy but Misora told us a Smash appeared!** "

"Yeah, but look! The guards are taking care of it!" Rick shoved Morty's head out of the cloud as he saw the Smash lying on the ground as the guards unloaded clip after clip at it. "L-look, sooner or later, that Smash's gonna drop. When it does," Rick pulled an empty Full Bottle from Morty, "I'm gonna extract it a-and take the host somewhere different, o-okay?!"

"… **Fine, we needed to find that guy anyways.** " Morty grabbed the bike and rode off as Rick bided his time. Rick, with one last shake of the Ninjya Full Bottle, managed to move the smoke cloud over to the defeated Smash and seemingly pick it up to a safer location.

"Sir, what's going on with that smoke?" Utsumi asked Gentoku.

"… None of our concern." Gentoku gritted his teeth.

"Well, I've seen enough. I bid you two a good day." Saiga walked off while she gave Gentoku a playful wink. Gentoku subtly banged his fist against the rail.

* * *

The puff of purple smoke hovered over to a dock before it dropped off the Smash and Rick. As the Smash grunted, Rick took the empty Full Bottle and extracted the Essence from it. As it disappeared, the Smash reverted to its human form, a man with an afro, goofy pink glasses, and a choker with a padlock on it.

"Faust is scraping the bottom of the barrel it seems." Rick muttered.

"Grandpa Rick!" Rick turned to see Morty, out of his Build armor, and Sawa run towards him, only for Sawa to notice the man.

"Wait… this is…" She rushes over to him. "You alright?" The man winced as Morty went to Rick's side.

"That's Tatsuya. He's the guy Sawa was talking about." Morty said. Tatsuya shook his head and trembled.

"It's… It's my bro… He… He's the one who…" Before he could finish, the four heard footsteps. Morty looked up and saw a man with short brown hair, a white scarf, tan leather jacket, and a black and white stripped shirt. He also wore torn up jeans and red sneakers. Tatsuya squirmed as he saw the man. "Bro!"

"I'm not your bro." The man said. Morty stood up and looked to him.

"Taro, there's-" The man interrupted Morty.

"For the last time, I'm not Taro! The name's Rei Kumo, understand!?" As Rei said that, he turned around. Morty saw Ryuga on his motorcycle drive towards Rei, who dodged out of the way. Ryuga drifted and stopped his bike before he got off.

"Hey, Morty, Misora wanted me to-"

"I'm kinda busy right now!" Morty said. Tatsuya looked at Ryuga for five seconds, then let out a shout.

"Y-you're the murderer!"

"I didn't kill anyone! I just saw the body!" Ryuga screamed back, which caused Tatsuya to back away.

"Yeah, he was framed…" Morty said.

"Wait… So then…" Tatsuya looked to Rei. "Bro… The day Katsuragi died… was… It was the same day I dropped you off at his place… Please… Please tell me it wasn't you!" As he said that, Ryuga turned his attention to Rei.

"Wait… You… Were you…" Ryuga began to snarl.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What I do, I do it for my family in Hokuto." Rei said.

"But you don't _have_ a family in Hokuto! You were in a band with me, remember?" Tatsuya said.

"No. I don't. If I had just the slightest hint of camaraderie with you, I wouldn't have turned you into a Smash, would I?" As he said that, Morty and Ryuga froze. A moment later, Ryuga was the first to snap.

"How… How could you!?" Ryuga ran to him and threw a punch before Rei sidestepped and struck him on the side of the neck. Ryuga went down easily and gasped in pain.

"That research group you went to… It was Faust, wasn't it?" Morty asked.

"Yeah, it was. I did it to get money for my family. Faust put me through an experiment and I succeeded exceptionally to them. However, there was one other person who excelled higher than I could ever achieve… _You_." As he looked to Morty, Rei growled out the last word.

"What are you talking about?" Morty asked. Rei rifled the pockets of Ryuga and took out the Comic Full Bottle, only to toss it to Morty.

"You were experimented upon as well and when they noticed your Hazard Level of 3.5, they chose _you_ over me." He pulled out a gun. Rick noticed the gun being the exact same as Blood Stalk's. "I should have been Build, not you… But alas, I'm tasked with training a kid on how to use a weapon and build your power to its fullest potential." Rei sighed. "So…" He then pulled out a purple Full Bottle with the silver engraving of a spider. "Shall we begin the experiment?" He plugged the Full Bottle into a clip-like slot.

 **SPIDER!**

A deep, booming voice caused the group to pause, with Morty letting out a small "no" as he recognized the name of the Full Bottle.

"Vaporize…" He then pulled the trigger…

 **MIST MATCH!**

A cloud of black smoke erupted from the barrel and clouded Rei. Flashes of blue light flickered behind the silhouette of his body. The familiar shape of a spider's torso glowed from the smoke.

 **SPIDER… SPI-SPI-SPIDER…**

The smoke began to clear as the white and blue armor of Freeze Speeder became clear.

 **FIRE!**

The ends of the legs were portrayed as large exhaust tubes, though their purpose was never shown until now. Out of the tubes came blew and white fireworks that exploded into lightning.

"… So that's how it is, huh?" Morty felt the engravings of the Comic Full Bottle. "You wanted money, so you betrayed your friend and became a villain… I… I won't forgive you!" He took out the Rabbit Full Bottle and plugged the two in.

 **RABBIT! COMIC! ARE YOU READY!?**

"LET'S BUILD UP!" Morty cranked the Driver and ran towards Freeze Speeder. The yellow half of Morty had four comic panels on his chest, a fountain pen molded onto his arm, and the molding of an expanded comic on his shoulder. The two traded punches before Rei sidestepped and fired at Morty. Morty staggered before he leaped up into the air. The fountain pen glowed and fired out a line of ink.

 **SPROING!**

A large red and yellow word bubble erupted from the ground where Morty leaped from. Rei didn't anticipate this and the word smacked him on the chest. Morty, while mid-air, changed forms.

 **GORILLA! COMIC! ARE YOU READY!?**

The red Rabbit half-body was replaced with the brown Gorilla half-body. He slammed his fist onto Rei, the pen glowing as did the gorilla gauntlet.

 **BLAM!**

His fist, along with the large word, slammed Rei onto the ground.

"Morty, let me handle him." Rick pulled out a laser gun from his coat.

" **No! Get the others to safety!** " As Morty said that, Rei grabbed Morty's legs.

"Morty!" Rick tried to aim, but Sawa held his arm.

"Rick, we gotta go…" Sawa said to Rick. He looked at the situation unfold as Morty quickly swapped out forms.

 **TAKA! COMIC! ARE YOU READY!?**

Morty flew up with an orange hawk wing on his back.

 **SWOOOOSH!**

The words seemed to knock Rei off Morty's legs. Rick just stared before he gritted his teeth.

"Alright, fine. Morty! Catch!" Rick tossed Morty the Ninjya Full Bottle. He grabbed it and flew further into the air as Rick took Tatsuya and Sawa grabbed Ryuga. The two left as Morty was about thirty feet into the air.

" **I found the winning formula!** " Morty swapped out Taka for Harinezumi. He fired dozens of spikes at Rei, who fired back with his gun. What he didn't see coming where the " **Twang! Twang! Twang!** " sound effects that followed them. As they pelt him, Morty switched to LionComic and punched down with the lion's gauntlet, causing a loud " **ROAR!** " sound effect to knock Rei aside. He finished things up by landing and swapping out Lion with Kaizoku.

 **KAIZOKU! COMIC! ARE YOU READY!?**

As Morty's armor gained the pirate-themed half, Morty pulled out a silver bow and arrow that was attached to the side. He pulled back the string with the Comic arm as the fountain pen created a second arrow. He then let loose the two.

 **TWANG!**

Rei got up and just as the arrow and its accompanying sound effect came closer, Rei pulled out the Steam Blade and slashed through the arrow and its sound effect.

" **You can switch all you like, but I'm going to defeat you regardless!** " Rei's voice sounded distorted through his mask. He ran to Morty, sword in hand. Morty took the Ninjya Full Bottle and switched Kaizoku out with it.

 **NINJYA! COMIC! BEST MATCH!**

"…" Rei stopped and waited for Morty to crank the Driver. As the tubes came out, filled with purple and yellow liquid, the Driver asked…

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

" **Super Build Up…** " Morty said as the two halves came together.

 **THE STEALTHY ENTERTAINER! NINNINCOMIC! YEAH!**

As the purple and yellow halves combined, steam came out of the seams. As Morty held his ninja sword, he noticed pipes had come out of the Driver and wrapped around the sword. The liquid used to create the half-bodies soon formed onto the sword, effectively giving it a new shape.

The sword was now yellow, segmented into four sections while the hilt was purple. From the hilt to the tip were drawings of a ninja doing obvious ninja things. The first panel showed him duplicating, the second and third had him using wind and fire elements, while the final one had him disappear in a puff of smoke.

" **What the…** " Morty muttered before he was forced to use the sword to block Rei's Steam Blade.

" **There's no room for hesitance in an experiment!** " Rei leaned closer as the blades reached Morty's chest.

" **Experiment!? Is that all this is to you? An experiment?!** " Morty asked.

" **Yes! For it's through trial and error do we find the path to improvement! By weeding out the failures, we can harvest the successes!** " Rei caused Morty to fall over. Blades still locked, Rei got on top of Morty and got so close, their helmets were centimeters away from contact.

" **So was Kasumi a failure?** " Morty asked.

" **Kasumi's blood is on Night Rogue's hands, not mine. I may not agree with Faust's methods, but I strongly feel as though I belong with them.** " As Rei said that, Morty put all his strength into his arms.

" **Then you're just as soulless as them!** " Morty threw Rei off of him and over the edge of the dock. However, a small robotic dragon flew over. Rei threw the Spider Full Bottle over to the dragon as it picked it up and placed it in its socket.

 **CROSS-Z FLAME!**

The dragon spat out a fiery blue web for Rei to land on. He flipped over, hands and feet attached to the web. The dragon handed him back his Full Bottle.

" **Maybe… But I am not heartless. The actions of my higher ups repulse me to no end. I made that man you insist is my friend a Smash to show them an example of a proper test subject.** " Rei said.

" **You're really pissing me off, you know that? N-not even Rick views me like that! A-and he's a dick to** _ **me**_ **on occasion!** " Morty then noticed the dragon fly to him and breathe blue fire right at Morty. " **AH JEEZ!** " Morty jumped away as Rei leaped back onto the dock to try and score a hit on Morty's armor. Morty inadvertently pressed his finger on the trigger of the sword. As he did, the first panel lit up.

 **DUPLICATION SKILL!**

Morty slashed at Rei with his sword, only for a second Morty to appear through a splash of yellow and purple paint. This second Morty helped fend off Rei while the original Morty blocked the blue flames from the dragon with his sword. As the two Mortys fence with their opponents, Rei found an opening and impaled the false Morty with the Steam Blade, then twisted the wheel.

 **ELEK STEAM!**

The blade overloaded with lightning and zapped the fake Morty to the point where he screamed. He exploded soon after as Rei leaped through the flames and onto Morty. Morty noticed the trigger on the blade, then noticed the four panels.

" **I think I figured it out!** " Morty pressed the trigger four times as it highlighted the fourth panel.

 **CONCEALMENT SKILL!**

Morty stabbed the ground with his sword.

 **BOOM!**

And he disappeared into a puff of smoke. Rei slashed through, only to see that he had slashed into a log.

" **What?!** " As Rei said that, he heard the sword's voice again. He looked up and saw Morty was over his head.

 **WIND SKILL!**

" **The laws of victory have been decided!** " Morty shouted as he landed down.

 **TORNADO SLASH!**

He gave a huge slash that created a gust of wind. The wind, true to the name of the attack, turned into a tornado as it sucked up the dragon while it pushed away Rei. After a moment or two, the dragon was shot up into the air by the tornado before the winds died down. Morty landed and pressed the trigger twice while he cranked the Driver.

 **FIRE SKILL! READY? GO!**

Morty's sword lit on fire as he ran towards Rei.

 **VOLTECH FINISH! BLAZING SLASH! YEAAAAAAAH!**

Morty disappeared in a puff of smoke. Rei turned behind and saw Morty appear. He tried to slash at Morty, only for him to disappear again, then reappear to his side. Before Rei could slash, Morty disappeared once more. Morty then reappeared in front of Rei and slashed him across the chest with a blazing sword once, twice, and finally a third time. With the final slash, he knocked Rei away, right into the water. As he made a splash, there was a large explosion that expanded that very splash.

Morty felt wobbly, though with victory in his hands, he took out the Full Bottles as the armor disappeared. He looked up and saw the dragon fall down. He caught it with his hands. The dragon played out a song and struggled, but after Morty booped it on the snout, it retracted into its square form.

* * *

After about an hour or so, Morty and the others went back to Café Nacista's lab. Ryuga sat by a desk, Tatsuya laid on Misora's bed, Sawa and Isurugi stood, Rick was by his computer, and Morty stood nearby the large machine where Misora was in. The dragon, to which Morty had nicknamed "Mecha-Dragon", rested on the desk, still in its square adapter form.

"… My bro… How could he…" Tatsuya had been repeating that line for the past few minutes. Rick had his hands hover over the keyboard for a while before he relaxed and drank from his flask.

"That bastard murdered Katsuragi and framed me for it!" Ryuga slammed his hand against the leg of the desk, only for Rick to kick him.

"Hey, knock it off, bozo! We're all pissed by this Top 10 Anime Betrayal shit, but moping about it isn't gonna get us anywhere. Right now, we should be focused on finding Taro, Rei, whoever the fuck he wants to be called, fuck him up, and get him to confess his sins." Rick began to type away at the computer. Morty went up to Rick and looked at the computer.

"Why are you looking up Katsuragi's old research data?" Morty asked as he skimmed the notes.

"I'm not dumb, Morty. I-I did some research on Katsuragi the moment I started working for the puppet… Turned out he was fired for human experimentation, Morty. He-He may have took his balls and gone home to make Faust." As Rick said that, Ryuga stood up.

"WHAT!?"

"Okay, Rick, _that_ was something you should have disclosed to us!" Morty shouted.

"Fucker is dead, Morty. He no longer runs the show. He might not have even been the sole founder o-or even the guy who came up with the idea. That's why I wasn't sure of his involvement. But I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, Morty. Literally! This last sentence is true Engrish bullshit!" Morty looked at the last sentence that Katsuragi wrote on his research papers.

" _In the end, goodbye all._ "

"I thought you understood Japanese, Rick." Sawa said.

"N-no I don't, paparazzi bitch! I just put fucking fish in our ears so that we can read and speak it without any effort to learn it, because that'd take way too long otherwise." Rick said.

"W-What!?" Morty began to dig into his ear canals.

"It's too late, Morty. They're like those bugs that eat the tongues of fish a-and then they _become_ tongues. Except here they become like little dubbing studios. And I don't mean the kind that trick you into thinking rice balls are jelly donuts, Morty, I mean the real hardcore Bible Black kind." Morty's jaw dropped.

"What the fuck's Bible Black?!" Morty asked.

"It's a hentai, Morty. The fact that you don't know what it is makes you a superior human compared to literally everyone in this room, e-except for me. Because you don't fuck with MOTHERFUCKING RIIIICK!" Rick took the keyboard and slammed it over the monitor.

"HOLY SHIT!" Morty jumped up as the keys flew out everywhere. Ryuga even moved away from the desk in surprise.

"… So did you find anything out?" Isurugi asked.

"No. Last sentence is a mystery that can suck my-"

 **Ding!**

The microwave popped open as Morty ran to grab it.

"Daaaw, Tatsuya, you made a Panda!" Morty said.

"What!?" Tatsuya got up.

"I-it's his cute way of saying the monster you became gave the basis of panda-based powers." As Rick said that, Tatsuya fainted back onto the bed. Misora got out of the metallic room.

"Tired… Sleepy…" She moved to her bed. "Move." She shoved Tatsuya off the bed and lied down.

"Maybe it's an anagram?" Morty asked. He looked at the last sentence again, then proceeded to write it out. He turned to Sawa, who instinctly came over.

"You might be onto something…" She took out her pen and wrote English letters underneath. Morty looked at the words.

"Woah!" Morty gave a pause. "What is this?"

"Romanji. Essentially translating the Japanese word out using Roman letters. For instance, Kamen…" She wrote the kanji for Kamen, then its Romanji counterpart.

"Amazing!" Morty said. Sawa took a look at the words for about five or so minutes before she took the letters apart one by one, writing them slowly out. Eventually, she had the final sentence.

"I've left everything with my mother…" She tilted her head, then left it to Rick.

"It's better than nothing." Rick said.

"Wait, what does he mean by 'everything'?" Morty asked.

"You think Katsuragi would detail his human experimentation reports on a public document? No. He must have had some secret info that he dropped at his mom's. To think he's just a basement dweller." Rick said.

"So that begs the question… Where _is_ his mom?" Ryuga asked.

"Well, I can't say that I hadn't done my part in researching Katsuragi…" Sawa muttered. "From what I know, she moved over to Hokuto."

"Then that's where I'm going." Rick got off his desk and took the Build Driver. "The entire reason why we're in this mess is because Katsuragi was murdered. The sooner we get to closing this case, the sooner we can get out of here." As Rick tried to leave, Morty ran to the front of the staircase.

"I'm not letting you leave with that! Not again!" Rick rolled his eyes and opened his jacket.

"Would this make you feel better?" Rick handed Morty a second Build Driver. "Got to work on it after that Nabeshima incident. Surprisingly easy to replicate, though I could have added new features to it." Morty glanced at the Build Driver. As he was about to take it, Rick pulled it away and held it high over his head. "If you let me go, I'll give it to you~!" Morty pondered…

* * *

" _Hey, boss! What should we do with him?_ " Rei's eyes slowly opened. The feeling of water brushing against his body was what woke him up. The first person he saw was a middle aged man with a short beard and a cap. Rei jolted and backed away before noticing that he wore a uniform mustard colored jacket.

He knew it was uniform as two other people wore it, though with the only things separating them being differently colored articles of clothing. In the case of the man he saw, a blue shirt underneath.

"Oi, do you know where you are?" Rei saw a fourth man. He didn't wear the same uniform, but rather a brown jacket usually reserved for winter wear. He had short brown hair and khaki pants. Rei looked around. He noticed he was on a beach, but looking past the group, he noticed farmlands… _Farmlands_ … He blinked, then got up, only for the brown-coated man to hold him down.

"Hokuto! I'm in Hokuto!" Rei said.

"Yeah… Though… You're trespassing on _my_ farm." The man hoisted him up, then dragged him over to a sign:

Sawatari Farm.


	5. Raid The Lab

"L-let me go!" Rei shouted as two of the men in mustard coats dragged him through the farmlands.

"Not until you tell us what you were doing." Their leader, Sawatari, said.

"I… I woke up here!" Rei said.

"Likely story…" Sawatari rolled his eyes. "In any case, you're still going to answer to the Hokuto Guardians." As he continued to be dragged, Rei looked at the land… Nothing. No signs of life, no plants, it was all a wasteland.

"…" Rei looked down at the murky ground below. "I had a farm as well…" That's when the two men stopped. "Then the Skywall happened… Like you, my farmlands were ruined. My family needed the money and…" He paused, then spoke up. "Bring me to them. They'll know who I am." Rei said. The man with the red bandana looked to Sawatari, who gave a brief nod.

"Very well… We'll try to find your family. This is the only kindness you'll get outta us though." Sawatari said.

"… Thanks…" Rei bit his lip.

" _But you don't_ _have_ _a family in Hokuto! You were in a band with me, remember?_ " He recalled the words of the man he turned into a Smash. All he has to wonder now is… was any of that true?

* * *

 **Knock knock**.

"I'll get it!" Morty went to the front door of Nascita and opened it. He took a moment to recognize the person in the gray Touto suit sporting a goatee and mustache. "Oh! You must be that Himuro guy Rick told me about."

"And you must be Morty. Rick says a lot of things about you." Gentoku glanced around the café. "Speaking of, where is he? I expected him to be at the Institute this morning."

"Oh, well… He had some business to take care of… Family business." Morty sweated and chuckled.

"I see. Well, I was originally going to give Rick some data of Katsuragi's for his research, but we ran into a… problem yesterday." Gentoku said.

"W-what sort of problem?" Morty asked.

"Nothing for a kid like you to be concerned with…" He slipped out a ziplock bag. Inside was a red USB drive. His phone buzzed as he took it out of his pocket. "I have to go. Give this to Rick when he comes back. It's for _his_ eyes only…" Gentoku said as Morty took the bag. He then left as soon as he could. Morty looked at the bag…

* * *

And in a moment of time, he saw the contents of the data on the computer screen in the basement.

"Amazing…" Morty muttered.

"Something up?" Ryuga asked.

"Yeah. Look at this!" Morty pointed to the screen, which showed a blue radared map of the border of Touto, with the Sky Wall marked in red. Morty pointed to a large yellow dot at the edge of the wall in particular. "There's a strange gas emitting out of this point. It might be the Nebula Gas that Night Rogue was talking about!"

"Wait… If that's the case… Then that might be where Faust is harvesting it!" Ryuga said.

"Or worse… They might have built a base around it." Morty glanced at the yellow dot.

"That's even better! If Night Rogue's there, we can capture him and have him prove my innocence!" Ryuga spun Morty's chair so that he could face him. Morty beamed.

"Or even find enough information on Faust to prove you didn't kill Katsuragi!" Morty got up and raced to get the Build Driver, stopping momentarily to remember what Rick said last night…

" _If you let me go, I'll give it to you~!_ " Morty took a few moments before he grabbed the Build Driver.

"Let's go." Morty said.

* * *

"There it is…" Rick had followed a man with shades through the forest to finally find a cave built into the Sky Wall. To his surprise, Sawa managed to give him directions to get to Hokuto undetected. This was the means. "The Sky Road…" As Rick looked, he noticed a family emerging from the cave. The man groaned and approached the father.

"The hell are you doing? You don't get to pass." As the father desperately got money out, he briefly scanned the bills and scoffed. "Not enough. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to go back to Hokuto." He sneakily took out a few bills from the wad and slipped it into his pocket. Rick just rolled his eyes and passed by the group.

 **BANG!**

A shot rung in the air as the family and the broker stopped fighting. Rick turned his attention to the Guardians that approached him.

"Fucking useless ass Sky Road!" Rick gritted his teeth. The Guardians pointed their guns at the broker. Though it was who Rick saw before them that really got his blood boiling.

" **I expected Build and yet I find _you_ of all people…**" Night Rogue said.

"Oh hey, you must be Millennial Batman. You know, cus you vape?" Rick sipped from the flask.

" **This seems more intriguing. Why are _you_ going to Hokuto?**" Night Rogue asked.

"You know damn well. Spiderbitch came from Hokuto, so I'm going over there to investigate. You think you can stop me?" Rick asked.

" **…** " Night Rogue put away his gun. " **As much as I wish to, Freeze Speeder _has_ been an annoyance to me. Whatever information you recover will be beneficial towards his downfall.**" He snapped his fingers as the Guardians put away their guns. " **I'll pretend I didn't see anything.** " With that, he fired a stream of steam out from his armor's large exhaust pipes and disappeared once it faded away.

"Supervillains, am I right?" Rick chuckled next to the trembling guide as the family snuck past him. "Aaaaanyways, best not keep Hokuto waiting." Rick walked onto the path leading to a dark cave.

* * *

"You said you're of the Kumo family, right?" Sawatari asked. The group had trekked across the farms where they got to his house. There, he got inside the house and looked through a simple pocket book that laid on a table by the door.

"Yeah. Would that help find them quicker?" As Rei continued to follow, Sawatari turned around and shook his head.

"If your family were farmers, you'll know what this is." Sawatari held out the small, blue covered book before he tossed it to Rei. Rei caught the book and looked at the title: The Hokuto Almanac. "Look through it." With that command, he did. He skipped past the usual data of the year's weather or when to best plant crops and got to the "Current Living" section. He skimmed through the areas of land that were owned by several families, among them were Sawatari. His eyes darted across the names, trying to find the name of Kumo…

When that failed, he flipped to the next page, a list of all the active farmers and who they belonged to. No sign of Kumo.

"I… What…" Kumo stuttered.

"There _is_ no Kumo family. Whether there _was_ one to begin with isn't my concern." With a simple snap of Sawatari's fingers, the blue and yellow shirt men grabbed Rei by the arms and dragged him away as he dropped the book. "There, we found your 'family'. Now, get off our farm!" He said.

The two men continued to drag Rei out of the farm before they got to what another Sawatari Farm sign would designate as the border before they tossed him across. Rei landed on the semi-wet mud as his body began to leave an imprint on the dirt. The two men went away as Rei got up. He could only see the outside of the Sawatari Farms.

"They… don't exist?" Rei muttered.

* * *

Morty and Ryuga carried a large metal pipe into a construction area, their faces obscured and allowed them to pass the Guardians standing outside. Once they got to a space spot behind a small shack, they put down the pipe.

"Alright, so we bust in though an opening not too far from the supposed base, grab what we can, and jet before we get caught, got it?" Morty said to Ryuga.

"Yeah…" As Ryuga said that, the two jumped at the sound of whistles and drums coming together to make a song. The two saw the Mecha-Dragon follow them as it hovered in the air, tiny wings at its rear flapping about. "Dude, did you bring that?"

"N-no! It came by itself!" Morty heard the Mecha-Dragon screech a bit. "S-shut it up!" Ryuga leaped in the air and tried to grab it, only for the dragon to spew a blue flame.

"Ouch! Hey, quit it!" As Ryuga shouted, Morty saw some of the Guardians noticing the noise.

"We gotta hurry." Morty grabbed Ryuga's arm. The two ran off just as the Guardians came to the shack.

* * *

As Rick came out of the other side, he looked at the dried-up grassy field that was Hokuto. Ahead, he could see the towns weren't as big or modern as the towns in Touto, instead having a more Feudal Japan look to it. Though, this wasn't helped with the armed men guarding the town he saw just down the hill.

Of all the people who would have gone to Hokuto, Rick was definitely the best candidate. Morty was a minor and Ryuga was a felon. Both would be caught for sure. But Rick? Even if the world has heard of his infamy, he would find a way to Katsuragi's mother. He took out a small note. On it was the last known location of Kyoka Katsuragi. He silently blessed the world for having GPS and followed the directions. The guards didn't seem to mind at his presence.

What made him realize he was in the right place was hearing a woman's voice. He noticed a small clearing in the front yard of the house where a teacher was lecturing some students.

"Now, be sure to do your homework, got it?" Kyoka was known to be a teacher, offering free services due to the economic situation. The kids she was teaching, most were of varying ages, got their things together and began to head out. Rick stayed away for the most part, not wanting to get attention. As soon as it was just Kyoka, he approached.

"Mam…" He spoke up as Kyoka turned to look at him.

"Hmm? Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Rick Sanchez, an associate of your son." As he said that, she frowned and looked away. "I know it's complicated and shit like that, but… I'm looking into your son's murder…" Kyoka looked sternly to him.

"Ryuga Banjou killed him. That's all I need to know." She said.

"But what if he didn't? What if he was framed?" Kyoka stepped up and slapped Rick.

"How dare you… Are you suggesting that my son died in some conspiracy!?" She said.

"Maybe? I don't know! The only thing I _do_ know is that your son hid a message in his final post at the research facility back in Touto. He told me he left something with you… I don't know what it is, but it might help me in figuring out what led to his death." Rick said.

"And why do _you_ care about that?" Kyoka asked.

"Because… He asked me to help him and… I feel like this is how I could do that." Rick said.

"…" Before Kyoka could respond, the two heard a scream coming from the clearing. They ran off to the source of the noise.

* * *

Rei wandered through the lands with a haggard pace. His mind kept going back to the almanac and how it lacked any mention of the Kumo family.

"But… I remembered…" Rei muttered.

 _Mom! I'm going to save our farm, don't worry!_

 _Take care, sweetheart!_

"So why… Why are they…" That's when he heard a scream. "The hell?" He muttered.

* * *

Rick and Kyoka found the source of the scream at a small garden and the moment Rick saw who was there, he wanted to scream too…

In rage.

"You fucking son of a fucking bitch!" Rick shouted at Blood Stalk as he had his sword pointed at a trio of children.

" **Hello again, Rick Sanchez. It's been a while. Glad to see you've survived the Devil Steam. This kid though?** " He chuckled as he turned the wheel on his Steam Blade.

 **DEVIL STEAM!**

" **Not so much.** " Blood Stalk swung his blade at one of the kids, only for the steam from the blade to engulf him. The boy screamed in pain as his body changed from a child to a fully-grown blue squid-like monster.

"Takehiko!" Kyoka screamed as she ran to him, only for Rick to hold out his arm.

"Don't get too close to him! Let _me_ deal with it." Rick glared at Blood Stalk before he put on the Build Driver and shook two Full Bottles.

 **NINJYA! COMIC! BEST MATCH!**

He cranked the lever as the two molds came out in both the front and back.

"What the…" Kyoka muttered.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

"Just shut up and do it already!" Rick shouted as the two halves collapsed onto his body.

 **THE STEALTHY ENTERTAINER! NINNINCOMIC! YEAH!**

Rick wasted no time rushing into battle with the comic-themed ninjato in his hand. He swung at the Smash before spinning and landing a slash at Stalk. The two of them kept blocking the sword's slashes.

" **So, this is the newly found Best Match that defeated Freeze Speeder, huh? It's not as threatening as I had hoped…** " Blood Stalk sniggered before he parried Rick's weapon, freeing him up for an icicle attack from the squid Smash. Of the icicles that didn't hit him, they hurdled towards Kyoka…

Only for Freeze Speeder to fire at the icicles. Kyoka turned around to see him.

"Who are _you_?" Kyoka asked.

" **Run, now!** " Rei said to Kyoka. She looked back to the battle, then to him.

"Please, save Takehiko…" She ran off afterwards. Rei glanced at Blood Stalk.

" **Stalk… What's the meaning of this? Turning a child into a Smash? I expected that low to come from Night Rogue!** " Rei said.

" **You managed to survive. Talk about lucky!** " Blood Stalk gave a small salute as he locked blades with Rick before he kicked him near the groin. " **I'm just having some fun!** "

" **Fun? The poor kid was suffering. You call that fun?** " Rei held up his gun and pointed directly at Blood Stalk.

" **Mmmm? You're turning your gun at me?** " Blood Stalk asked.

" **I need some questions answered… About the family I risked my life for!** " Rei cautiously walked into battle with the gun aimed at Stalk… Then he fired at Rick.

" **Aaaah! The hell!?** " Rick asked. Rei continued to fire.

" **While I keep him busy… The Kumo Family. They're real, right?** " Rei asked.

" **Oh yeah, they're real.** " As the two were talking, Rick activated his sword.

 **DUPLICATION SKILL!**

He split up into three versions. As the two focused on deflecting Rei's bullets, the one who initiated the split pulled out a box with a blue button. As he pressed it, a blue, featureless, cartoony figure appeared out of a puff of smoke.

" **What in the-** " As though to answer Rei's question, the blue, misshapen figure screamed out:

"HI! I'M MR. MEESEEKS! LOOK AT ME!"

" **Go save the- uuurp, kids!** " Rick said to it.

"Yes siree!" Mr. Meeseeks ran over to the kids and grabbed them. The Smash fired icicles at them, only for Mr. Meeseeks to use his body to shield them. "Ooooh! That tickles!" Mr. Meeseeks giggled as he brought the kids out of the area. Once they were with Kyoka, Mr. Meeseeks vanished in the same puff of smoke. Kyoka could only stare blankly as the strange blue man appeared and then subsequently disappeared out of existance.

" **What… No matter.** " Rei fired at each of the three Ricks before he turned to Stalk again. " **What happened with the Kumo Family? How come they don't exist in Hokuto?** "

The three duplications of Rick continued to battle, with the one facing the Smash activating his sword as well as the Driver.

 **WIND SKILL! READY? GO!**

Wind began to pick up from his sword as the Smash began to fling icicles at him, only for the icicles to be caught in the tornado.

 **TORNADO SLASH! VOLTECH FINISH! YEAAAAH!**

He slammed the sword into the ground as the miniature tornado on his sword expanded into a full on wind storm. Kyoka held the kids down as Rick sent the icicles back at the Smash. Once it was knocked into the air, Rick ran at the Smash and slashed at it, causing it to explode in a green fireball. Before Stalk and Rei could focus on the Smash, Rick opened an empty Full Bottle and extracted the essence from the Smash, giving Takahiko his human form again.

"Teacher… it hurts…" As Takehiko said that, Rei could only look to the boy. Kyoka ran to him, as did the kids. Kyoka looked at Rick before he exploded into a puff of smoke. "It's… hard to breathe…"

"Hang in there…" Kyoka's voice wavered.

" **Well, there _was_ a Kumo family… Nowadays, they're gone.**" Stalk chuckled as he blocked Rick's blade.

" **W-what?!** " Rei's distraction caused the second Rick to get an attack in, knocking the spider-themed assailant down.

" **They died off a couple of years ago. Though, given how they were among Faust's first experiments, there had to be some form of mishaps.** " As Stalk chortled, Rei looked over to Kyoka and Takehiko.

"Am I… going to die?" Takehiko asked. Kyoka moved her head around, trying to find any form of help.

" **But… I…** **Then… Why did I accept the experiment? If they're gone… Why did I agree to be experimented upon?** " Rei muttered. Stalk punched the first Rick, then walked over to Rei.

" **Ea~sy! That's the memory you were given after the experiment!** " Stalk said.

" **N-no! That can't be…** " Rei's voice was now a whisper.

" **Giving you the idea that you've given your soul to Faust in order to keep your family happy is all that's needed to create a compliant soldier. And a temporary one at that, now that you're asking questions. Well, guess it's back to the drawing board.** " Stalk held out his arm as a small tentacle-like needle came out from the wrist guard, about to enter Rei's neck…

" **YOU'RE LYING!** " Rei suddenly fired point blank at Stalk's face. While the impact didn't hurt all that much, Rei managed to grab Stalk by the collar and throw him on the ground. " **You goddamned devil!** " Rei gave Stalk another punch to the face. " **GIVE ME BACK MY FAMILY! MY MEMORIES! GIVE THEM ALL BACK!** " Rei continued to scream as Rick looked over to Kyoka. The second Rick disappeared as he ran over to Kyoka.

" **Let's get out of here!** " As Rick said that, he slammed his sword to the ground.

 **CONCEALMENT SKILL!**

Rick, Kyoka, and the three children were covered by a smoke bomb. Once the smoke faded, the group was gone.

" **Speeder… Speeder… So loyal… But all it takes for you to lose control is finding out your life's a lie?** " Stalk pulled the Transteam Gun out of his sword and shot at Rei's gut, causing him to get off and writhe on the ground as his armor disappeared. " **What a disappointment. It was fun while it lasted. Ciao!** " Stalk walked away as Rei continued to gasp and wince. As he did, several men in the Hokuto military uniform came, guns aimed at him.

* * *

"There it is…" Morty and Ryuga hid in tall grass as, right across the road from them, the Sky Wall was. True to what Morty had seen on the data file, it emitted a strange, yellow gas. The two waited for a pair of guards to pass. "Let's go!" Morty ran towards the gas, as did Ryuga.

Once they got to the other side, they instinctively covered their mouths and explored a small crevice within the Sky Wall.

"Now what? It's a dead end!" Ryuga said.

"We go down…" Morty took out a small ball and stuck it to the ground. With a small twist, the ball crystalized the ground and the surrounding area. Morty jumped out of the way as the ball exploded, creating a hole for the two to go down.

"What the fu-"

"It's something I made based off GorillaMond's ability. Guess inventing runs in my family." Morty shrugged before he leaped into the hole. Ryuga stood motionless for a second before he followed Morty.

As the two landed beneath into a long tunnel with water running beneath their feet, Ryuga recognized exactly where they were.

"Wait, this… This is…" Ryuga muttered before he looked to a small light at the end of the tunnel. "This way!" Ryuga ran forward with Morty behind him.

* * *

"Rest assured, mam, we'll take the kid to the hospital. The perpetrator has been apprehended, but the Kamen Rider's still out there. If you have any information that'd lead to his capture, please let us know." Kyoka stood by her house as the Hokuto police put Takehiko on a stretcher. She simply gave a nod as they left. She then went inside to her living room where Rick sat by the table.

"Thank you… I wouldn't know what would happen if you weren't there." Kyoka said.

"You can thank me by telling me about what your son was hiding. Those monsters you saw out there? Those were made by _your_ son." Rick said.

"… In some deep part of me, I knew Takumi was up to something bad… But… I didn't want to admit it. I wanted to believe that he became a scientist to make up for his father's regrets…" Kyoka said.

"What does his father have to do with this?" Rick asked.

"His father was the one who led the expedition to Mars. And so, when the Sky Wall erupted, he was front and center for the blame… He ended up taking his own life because of it." Kyoka frowned.

"So… He must have founded Faust as a means of revenge…" Rick muttered. Kyoka gave a stern look.

"I don't think my son would do something as cruel as that, even if he loved his father dearly. Someone could have been using him…" Kyoka said.

"That might be the case…" Rick muttered. "Before I came to Japan, Takumi requested my help with leaving Faust, but unfortunately, when I came, I was too late. Faust took my grandson and did who knows what to him… That's my stake in this. That's why I'm still here instead of back home. I'm going to make those bastards pay for what they did to Morty. The sooner Faust is taken down, the better, and if that means getting access to whatever it is he's hiding, then I'll get access…"

"Is that so? In that case… My son visited me a week before he died. He entrusted me with some research data and told me to hid it somewhere." Kyoka said.

"That's amazing! Where is it?" Rick asked.

"Back in Touto." She reached inside her jacket pocket and pulled out a key attached to a "Bank of Touto" credit card. "It's in a safety deposit box, 3405. You'll find it there." She said. Rick quickly grabbed the card.

"Thanks! You'll never see me again." Rick bowed before he left. After a few moments, Kyoka sighed in relief.

"Takumi…" She muttered.

" **Thank you for your cooperation…** " She noticed the lights in her house flicker as she heard the voice of Blood Stalk. " **I only have one use for you now…** " She looked around as the lights completely went out, the only source being a cyan-green cobra shape on both Stalk's chest and helmet.

* * *

 **CLACK!**

A large light shined on Rei's face as he struggled to adjust to the sudden brightness.

"State your name." A stern voice belonging to one of the Hokuto guards said to him. Rei noticed he was in a small interrogation chamber.

"Kumo Rei… I think." Rei muttered the last bit.

"You're charged with conspiracy, possible terrorism, and a potential connection to a criminal in Touto. Were this a normal case, you'd be put on trial." The guard said.

"But it isn't…" Rei looked and noticed his hands and feet were cuffed to the chair. "Is it?" The guard dimmed the light and took a step back as a middle-aged woman with a small blue scarf and a tan and blue uniform came forward. In her hands were the Transteam Gun and the Spider Full Bottle. She sat them down on a table.

"You were seen with these in your possession. Eye-witness reports say that it's similar to the devices the Kamen Rider used." She said. Rei knew who this woman was. Yoshiko Tajimi, the Prime Minister of Hokuto.

"They are. Your point?" Rei asked.

"A few hours ago, we've seen Kamen Riders and a Smash battling near a school. Thankfully, word hasn't gotten out about this, but the potential for another attack is high. Especially since I have reason to believe that, due to their origin in Touto, they were sent by that nation's Prime Minister." Yoshiko said.

"You really suspect that?" Rei shook his head. "You're right that they originate in Touto, but it's not the Prime Minister's doing…"

"Then what _is_ making those monsters!?" Yoshiko stood up.

"Faust. They're an organization founded in Touto and they're the ones who made both the Kamen Rider and the Smash." Rei calmly stated. "After their actions today, I'm more than willing to share whatever you wish to know about them."

"And how do I know you're not making up some form of cover story?" Yoshiko asked.

"Because they were the ones who gave me those." Rei eyed at the Transteam Gun. Yoshiko glanced at it. "Touto's focus has been entirely on pacifism. Even if their Prime Minister created these, he'd use them military purposes, they'd be for self defense. Not what you saw today." Yoshiko took a few moments to look at the gun and bottle.

"Suppose I believe you and this Faust place is indeed true… Do you think we'll spare you?" Yoshiko asked.

"No. I expect to atone for my crimes, whatever they may be, through any means necessary. Even my own death." Rei said. Yoshiko laughed.

"Hahahaha… No. That's not what I have in mind… Touto, Faust, it doesn't matter who sent these monsters. We need to get on their level. We'll talk about letting you go once you provide enough information for us to replicate these…" As Yoshiko smirked. Rei shook his head.

"No… Not replicate…" As he said that, some of the guards motioned to attack, only for Rei to continue. "We need to _exceed_ these if we're to beat Faust. Let me work with your top scientists, and I promise you technology that'll not only protect Hokuto, but will bring a _downfall_ onto Faust." Rei smirked and rested his arms on the table. "Downfall… Now _that_ has a nice ring to it…"

* * *

Morty and Ryuga neared the exit of the tunnel. They could see that what looked to be metallic stars were just beyond the mouth.

"I'll make a distraction." Ryuga ran off as Morty snapped his head at Ryuga.

"Wait!" Though he was already on the stairs and shouting at whoever was there. "Damn it… And Rick has Ninjya as well! Gotta improvise…" Morty slapped on the Build Driver and placed two Full Bottles into his it.

 **GORILLA! TANK!**

Morty cranked the thing just slightly to activate the fluids on the Full Bottles.

 **ARE YOU READY!?**

Morty had no time to respond as he just ran off. As he feared, some Guardians had pointed their guns at Ryuga. Without any hesitation, Morty punched one of them towards the other Guardian, then took out the drill-gun and fired at the two Guardians until they exploded.

" **A little warning, next time.** " Morty muttered.

"If we get to the bottom of this, we might not need to worry about that." Ryuga ran forward as Morty followed…

Only to be stopped by the screams of a person.

Morty and Ryuga saw what looked to be an underground facility in which several men in hazmat suits held down a guy and tried to force him into a large glass tank… At least until they noticed the two men.

" **T-this is…** " Morty muttered.

"Well, time to get our answers." Ryuga made his way downstairs to the facility while Morty just stared…

That's when he remembered the tank… How he was inside it… How he made a scream that, while classic to Rick's ears, was still horrific to him. Morty's breath shortened as Ryuga began to grab one of the hazmat people and shove them against the wall.

"WHO FRAMED ME!? TALK!" Ryuga threw him into a table where several metal shelves fell and clattered. As Ryuga attacked him, Morty noticed several men in white shirts and pants. He remembered how _he_ wore those exact same articles of clothing… One of them tried to get to the exit…

 **BLAM!**

Only to be shot in the back and fell limply onto the floor as the white shirt became stained with blood.

" **Must you interfere with our experiment?** " Morty and Ryuga turned to face Night Rogue, who sat on a large golden throne, holding his own Steam Rifle.

"Finally found you…" Ryuga balled his hands into fists and let the hazmat person go. "Tell me… Why… Why did you kill Kasumi!?" Ryuga ran towards Night Rouge, only for him to stop right as the bat-themed villain fired at his feet.

" **She was a specimen. Just as you are.** " Night Rogue said.

"Specimen? Screw that!" Ryuga ran forward as Morty quickly swapped Bottles…

 **RABBIT! DIAMOND!**

As he changed the halves of his body, Morty jumped over and took the blow for Ryuga. He remained standing.

" **And like night and day, the stronger specimen comes in…** " Night Rogue looked at Morty.

" **Yeah, yeah, we heard it before. You and your friends call every evil thing you do experiments or failures. Tell us something we _don't_ know!**" Morty shouted.

" **Very well…** " Night Rogue got up and walked down the stairs over to Morty. " **You know that you and Ryuga were experimented upon, but did you think about _what_ the experiment was?**" Night Rogue walked past Morty and over to the tank before he laid his hands on it. " **It was to see how humans can tolerate the Nebula Gasses… _That's_ the reason behind the Hazard Levels… Nothing more than a gauge for us.**"

"So… That's what we are to you? Numbers!?" Ryuga asked.

" **Exactly… And _your_ numbers are interesting… You are among the few who are of a Hazard Level above 2. As a result, you weren't able to become Smashes.**" Night Rogue said.

"Wait… we… we were…" Ryuga muttered.

" **You two were dosed with the same gasses that we used to make those Smashes. Including your precious Kasumi… Were it not for your higher Hazard Level…** " Night Rogue sniggered as Ryuga gritted his teeth.

" **Is that supposed to intimidate us?** " Morty coldly said as Ryuga let go of his rage and looked to Morty in confusion. " **I've been in worst situations than being subjected to _vape_. Maybe _that's_ why I wasn't able to turn into a monster like you hoped…**"

" **But that's what makes you a unique specimen…** " Night Rogue suddenly lost balance as Morty fired at the glass tank and made him fall over.

" **You made a nightmare to your little cult, Batman. A nightmare that'll never go away. I've seen things that would make you question your sanity. I've went through horrors that make any torture you did to me look like a tickling. I've even _done_ things that would make normal men lose the will to live. Oh yes, I'm a unique specimen, alright… The specimen who will make the lives of Faust a living hell. Now, surrender, tell us who killed Katsuragi, confess to Touto, and leave. This. Continent.**" Morty said as he swapped out the Full Bottles for…

 **PANDA! TANK! ARE YOU READY!?**

Morty changed armors as the mostly right side of the armor being a signature panda black and white, with a giant claw acting as his hand.

" **Bastard…** " Night Rogue was about to continue, before Morty cut him off.

" **My mom and dad were married when they had me.** " Morty calmly said.

" **RAAAH!** " Night Rogue fired at Morty before he blocked the shots with his panda claw then knocked him into the broken tank. He fell over as Morty adjusted the gun, turning it into the Drill Crusher.

" **Ryuga, secure the prisoners. I'll make short work of him.** " Morty said. Ryuga nodded, then went to several people who were strapped to metal beds. Morty, meanwhile, began to slash at Night Rogue with both the Drill Crusher and the giant claw, barely giving him a chance to detach the rifle parts from his gun. Morty walked continuously at Night Rogue, unflinching with each slash. Every time Night Rogue tried to get up, another slash. " **Give up.** "

" **Never! You lot will be sacrifices for-** " Another slash at Night Rogue's chest, cracking the golden bat insignia on it.

" **Now, are you going to stop resisting or will I have to beat the information out of you?** " Morty asked. Night Rogue struggled to get up before he took out a Full Bottle of his own.

" **You… You cannot break my conviction…** " Night Rogue placed the Full Bottle into the Transteam Gun.

 **FULL BOTTLE!**

And pointed at Morty before firing.

 **STEAM ATTACK!**

He fired out a large rocket-style missile towards Morty as he rolled out of the way. The rocket hit the back of the lab, causing a large explosion that spread flames across the lab.

" **Son of a…** " Morty looked at the flames as Night Rogue disappeared in a cloud of steamy smoke. " **Okay, Ryuga, double time!** " He swapped out Panda for Rabbit…

 **RABBITTANK! YEAH!**

And ran out of there, helping Ryuga with some of the prisoners as he carried one on his shoulder.

* * *

Ryuga and Morty were about five feet from the lab before they could feel the lab explode underneath them, and ten feet when they could feel the lab exploding behind them, the shockwave knocking them onto the ground. Ryuga and Morty got up and saw the lab consumed in the flames, with the ground below crumbling down into the sewers.

Morty took the Full Bottles out of his belt as the armor dissipated into vapors.

"Well, we didn't get what we wanted, but at the very least Faust won't be able to create anymore Smashes…" Morty said.

"… It's okay. We managed to save some people today. That should be our takeaway from all this." Ryuga patted Morty on the back. The two relaxed… Just as Morty's phone rang. Immediately, Morty picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" Morty asked.

" _Morty, Rick came by and dropped off a Smash bottle. I'm going to purify the essence._ " Misora said.

"Before you do, did Rick get any information from Kyoka?" Morty asked.

" _He told me that the data is inside a safety deposit box and is going to grab it._ " Misora said.

"Good. We've just finished up our own digging. We'll tell you more once we get back." Morty said.

" _Alright. See you later._ " Misora hung up as Morty put away his phone. He then placed the Lion Fullbottle into the phone and transformed it into a bike. He and Ryuga hopped on and rode off…

* * *

Night Rogue stumbled out of the ruins of the laboratory before he slumped on a wall and sat down. The armor lost its form, reverting into smoke. Once the smoke cleared, in Night Rogue's place was Gentoku. He winced in pain as he took out his phone.

"I've distracted them for as long as I could… Have you finished your side of the plan?" Gentoku asked.

" _Ooooh yes… I'm heading back to Touto now with a special guest. Rick's on his way to the Touto bank to retrieve the data. If you want your hands on it, I'd suggest you make quick haste._ " Stalk said.

"Guest? You never told me what you're doing in Hokuto… What are you planning?" Gentoku got up and limped away.

* * *

" **An interesting game…** " Blood Stalk tossed away a walkie talkie he had as he dragged a bound and gagged Kyoka out of the Sky Road cave leading to Touto. There, he threw her to the ground and undid her gag.

"Who are you?!" Kyoka asked.

" **Just an old colleague of your son… You know, you weren't the only one he gave secret data to…** " Stalk held up a small red device he held in his hand. On the top of it was a blue button and, on the bottom, a small key-like attachment. He plugged the device into the Steam Blade, then pressed the button.

 **HAZARD ON!**

" **Congratulations are in order… You're going to be the first person to be subject to some hazardous gasses…** " He cranked the wheel on the Steam Blade.

 **DEVIL STEAM!**

He allowed black pools of smoke to come from the blade before he swung it at Kyoka, causing her body to be covered in the smoke as she screamed. Stalk cracked up into a roar of laughter as he saw her writhe and mutate…


End file.
